Yvonne Silbert
Yvonne Silbert (1926-1975)
Biography
Born in Krugersdorp In 1926.
In 1950 she married Rupert Abrahams, an attorney. Two weeks later she contracted poliomyelitis and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She regained the use of one hand but composed no more songs as she could no longer play the piano.
Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance
Before she was twenty she wrote a musical play called Take It or Leave It!, produced in Johannesburg by Norah Taylor in August 1948.
She travelled around the reef teaching Speech and Drama, and acted in amateur theatre productions in South Africa. A play she wrote about Crippen was presented on Springbok Radio.
She continued to write plays and short stories after she fell ill. Most of her time was taken up with teaching speech and drama, and she produced a number of Shakespearean plays at Afrikaans high schools.
