Dinner at the Monkey House
Dinner at the Monkey House is a satirical comedy by Warrick Grier.
The original text
According to what appears to be a copy of an early version of the text (no author mentioned), belonging to the lecturer and former head of CAPAB drama, Johan Esterhuizen, the play was originally called Welcome to the Monkey House....
This title clearly derives from Welcome to the Monkey House, a famous collection of 25 short stories written by Kurt Vonnegut, published by Delacorte in August 1968.[1] (In 1970, Christopher Sergel adapted the Kurt Vonnegut's collection of stories into a play, also called Welcome to the Monkey House.)
Grier's South African play was renamed Dinner at the Monkey House for its first performance in 1989, with Warwick Grier given as author.
Productions
1989: Presented by Utterly Splendid Productions at the Baxter Studio, by Rob Amato, with a cast that included Warrick Grier, Ruth Abrahams, Lungile Maninjwa, Joseph Mitchell, Sue Mitchell, David Tomlyn, Gideon de Wet.
Sources
Baxter Theatre pamphlet
Johan Esterhuizen's copy of Welcome to the Monkey House..., found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department archive in 2022.
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