Twentieth Century

1899AD First Hague Peace Conference. Boxer Rebellion in China and put down by European powers, USA and Japan. Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams. Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes in USA. “Savage South Africa: show in London, as part of the Greater Britain Exhibition.. Luscombe Searelle’s Music Hall is taken over by Harry Stodel. Johannesburgse Toneelvereniging founded. The Wheelers open the Earl’s Court Garden Theatre. Enoch Santonga writes “Nkosi Sikilel’ iAfrika”. The Mount Nelson Hotel opens in Cape Town. Kruger issues an ultimatum demanding the withdrawel of British troops from the Transvaal border. On October 11 the Anglo-Boer War (The South African War) starts. Sir Redvers Buller takes charge of British troops.

1900AD Victor Emmanuel becomes king of Italy. Plank’s quantum theory. Between 1899 and 1902 formal professional theatre largely comes to a standstill, although “entertainments” were no doubt arranged by the military in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban, and Boer prisoners organized “konserte” in the concentration camps. The foundation stone of the Cape Town City Hall laid on 25th August. Lord Roberts arrives in Cape Town as commander in chief. Kimberley relieved, OFS annexed, Pretoria occupied. Roberts returns. Resistance continues and Kitchener institutes scorched earth policy, introduces concentration camps. Kruger in exile. Labour party founded in Britain. Boxer Rebellion begins in China.

1901AD Queen Victoria dies. Edward VII becomes king. Marconi’s transatlantic telegraph used for first time. Mann’s Buddenbrooks. First Nobel Prizes awarded. Boxing becomes a legal sport in Britain. Hemlines creep up to the ankle. First soluble “instant” coffee invented in USA. Strindberg’s A Dream Play Stephen Black’s Love and the Hyphen,, first really successful English play by a South African. The Empress Theatre in Pretoria renamed His Majesty’s Theatre. Emily Hobhouse visits the concentration camps in South Africa. The plague kills hundreds in S.A. Milner becomes High Commisioner responsible for the foremr Boer Republics. Boer Commandoes invade the Cape Colony. US President McKinley assasinated. Theodore Rooseveldt becomes president.

1902AD Turn-ups in men’s trousers first appear. Kipling’s “Just So” stories. Gorky’s The Lower Depths Rayne returns to SA, followed by 12-year old Freda Godfrey (Florrie). She appears as Dr Watson’s daughter in Sherlock Holmes in Cape Town. Edgar Wallace’s An African Millionaire premiéred (unsuccessfully) by Rayne in Cape Town. First version of Stephen Black’s Love and the Hyphen performed. Mambretti of Cape Town imports first motor-cycle. Edgar Wallace becomes first editor of the new Rand Daily Mail, replacing the old Standard and Digger’s News. Cecil John Rhodes dies in Muizenberg, aged 47. The Peace of Vereeniging ends the Anglo-Boer War. The Boer generals visit Europe in an effort to raise funds for the Boers who lost everything. Milner and his “kindergarten” start restoration work, including efforts at Anglicization of South Africa. Rhodes dies aged 49. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria and Italy) renewed again for 6 years.

1903AD First flight by Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. First major clashes in the Suffragette movement in London. The first formal narrative movie: Edwin Porter’s The Great Train Robbery. Britain sets a 20 MPH speed limit for cars. His Majesty’s Theatre opens in Johannesburg. The Tivoli Theatre of Varieties opened in Cape Town by De Jong & Logan. The cultural journal De Goede Hoop established, publishing plays. As part of the general Afrikaenr cultural revival, Die Tweede Taalbeweging (the “Second Language Movement”) begins. First serious motor accident in SA: the Johannesburg express hits a car at the Maitland crossing, Cape Town. Lord Milner creates his own legislative assembly in Transvaal.

1904AD Trans-Siberian railway completed between Moscow and Vladivostok. A woman arrested in NewYork for smoking in public. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art formed in London. The Abbey Theatre opens in Dublin. Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. First Barker/Vedrenne season at the Royal Court in London First farces by Melt Brink published. President Kruger dies in Switzerland, buried in Heroes Acre, Pretoria. Chinese Labourers imported for the Transvaal mines. Meetings of protest in England. Massive floods in Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Deneys Reitz returns to South Africa. Rhodes University evolves from St Andrew’s College. Jamieson prime minister of Cape Colony. Russo-Japanese war begins. Entente Cordiale signed between Britain and France.

1905AD Einsrtein’s Special Theory of Relativity published. Shaw’s Man and Superman. Max Reinhardt heads Deutsches Teater Berlin. Meyerhold at the Moscow Art Theatre The Cape Town City Hall opens. The Cullinan Diamond, the largest ever foud, discovered in Transvaal. Het Volk formally established by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. Revolution breaks out in Russia on “bloody Sunday”. Japan defeats Russia in the naval battle of Tshusima Strait. IRA founded in Dublin.

1906AD World’s first radio broadcast of music and the voice at Brant Rock, Mass. The San Francisco earthquake kills 450. The permanent wave introduced by a London hairdresser. Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon. Lily Langtry in The Degenerates in Cape Town. The Grand Theatre opens in Bloemfontein. Paul Roos’s rugby team the first to wear the Springbok emblem when they play in Britain. Electric trams replace horse-drawn trams in Johannesburg. The first issue of the Sunday Times appears. The Carlton Hotel opens in Johannesburg. The British government grants responsible government to the Transvaal. Zulu riots in Natal. Mahatma Ghandi initiates the passive resistance movement among Indians in South Africa. Revolution in Persia leads to a constitutional monarchy.

1907AD Bergson’s Creative Evolution. Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts movement in Britain. Riots at opening of Synge’s Playboy of the Western World in Dublin. Strindberg & Falck open the Intimate Theatre in Stockholm Afrikaans-Hollandse Toneelvereniging founded in Pretoria by Gustav Preller and Harm Oost. Oost’s Ou Daniël performed. Langenhoven's Die Trouwbelofte and Die Water Zaak published. Percy FitzPatrick’s Jock of the Bushveld. Andrew Jephta of SA the first coloured man to hold a boxing title in Britain. The Transvaal Govt. sends back 50,000 Chinese. The British government grants responsible government to the OFS. Het Volk and the English Nastionalists coalition victorious in Tranvaal and Botha becomes Prime Minister. Abraham Fischer becomes prime minister in the OFS. Ghandi leads Transvaal Indians in passive resistance. Colonial Conference in London.

1908AD Sorel’s Reflections on Violence. Henry Ford produces the Model T. Stephen Black’s Love and the Hyphen produced at the Tivoli, Cape Town. First motor show in South Africa held at The Wanderers, Johannesburg. SA’s 1st participation at the Olympic Games in London. Sprinter Reggie Walker gets gold. John X. Merriman prime minister in the Cape Colony. First sitting of the National Convention. Ghandi leads the protest against pass laws with the burning of passes on 16th August in Newtown, Jhb. Young Turks’ rebellion seeks to rejuvenate the Ottoman Empire. The Congo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo. Lord Asquith prime minister of Britain.

1909AD Bleriot flies across English Channel. Bakelite invented in USA. Peary reaches the North Pole. T.H. Morgan begins research in genetics at Columbia. G.P. Baker’s 47 Workshop at Harvard Royal Hotel in Durban re-built. First powered flight in SA by visiting Frenchman Kimmerling at Nahoon racecourse, East London. 30 March 1909 - SA colonies meet to consider and adopt the South Africa Act, which leads to the Union of South Africa Howard Taft president in the USA

1910AD Halley’s comet appears. John Buchan’s Prester John. Mount Etna erupts. Stravinsky’s Firebird. The Wheeler brothers leave Cape Town. The Pageant of Union takes place in Cape Town. Black’s Helena’s Hope produced. South Africa’s car population is 2000. South African Railways and Harbours Administration established. The Union of South Africa created. And the Constitution accepted. Louis Botha’s Party wins the election and he becomes the first Prime Minister. Portugal’s monarchy overthrown. King Edward VII dies, his son George V succeeeds.

1911AD Rutherford’s model of the nuclear atom. Amundsen reaches the South Pole. Craig’s On the Art of the Theatre published. Richard Strauss writes Der Rosenkavalier. Rayne and Godfrey in The Drummerboy of the 76th. The Cape Town Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society founded. Marie Lloyd appears in SA, brought out by Harry Stodel. The suffragist pageant, The Pageant of Great Women (by Cecily Hamilton) , produced in Johannesburg. Langenhoven's series of short plays, including Die Tweetalige Vonnis and Die Kys about die Forro published and Die Familie Zaak performed in Oudtshoorn. First wholly SA built aircraft flown by John Weston at Kimberley. J.P. Souza Band visits SA. South African National Party (later SAP) formed, in opposition to the Unionist Party. Italy declares war against Turkey and attacks Tripoli.. Winston Churchillbecomes first Lord of the Admirality in Britain.

1912AD First successful para chute jump by US Army Captain Albert Berry. Scott reaches South Pole, but dies on way back. SS Titanic sinks. Lilian Bayless runs Old Vic. Paderwski and H.B. Irving visit SA. Matheson Lang and Hutin Britton arrive to play a season of Shakespeare. C.J. Langenhoven’s Die Hoop van Suid-Afrika (“The Hope of South Africa”) performed in Bloemfontein. South Africa gets its own defence force. The South African Native National Congress is formed in Bloemfontein. Balkan wars begin.. Treaty of Lausanne signed between Italy and France.

1913AD D.H. Lawrence’sSons and Lovers. Proust’s A la Recherchedu temps perdu (Vol. 1). Panama Canal completed. Birmingham Rep Theatre formed. Copeau opens Thèâtre du Vieux Colombier in Paris. “Draft Entertainments Bill” is passed, demanding that places of entertainment have to be licensed. Bella Donna opens in Cape Town, starring Muriel Alexander. The Thomas Quinton Opera Co. visits SA. I.W. Schlesinger forms the African Theatres Trust. For Unkulunkulu’s Sake performed in USA. Langenhoven's Die Hoop van Suid-Afrika and F.E Cilliers's Heldinne van die Oorlog performed on 16 December. The Pier Bandstand and Concert Hall opened in Cape Town. First definitive issue Union Stamps. African Mirror, an actuality film newsreel, is launched. The Johannesburg Market Building completed. Ghandi launches a passive resistance campaign. Imperial Troops are mobilized against strikeing miners on the Witwatersrand. A judicial enquiry leads to recognition of Trade Unions. The Natives Land Act passed, reserving certain areas of land for “natives” only. London Peace Treaty ends second Balkan War. British suffragetist Emily Davidson is killed when she runs in front of the King’s horse at Epsom. Woodrow Wilson becomes US president.

1914AD Matisse’s Les Poissons rouges. First films by Charlie Chaplin. Panama Canal opened to traffic. Tairov becomes director of Moscow Kamerny Theatre Everyone in uniform let into Leonard Rayne shows free. Entertainment Tax introduced. Cape Town Municipal Orchestra founded. Foster gang trapped in a cave and commit suicide. The Kimberley “Big Hole” closed for further mining. SA troops under Louis Botha invades German South West Africa at request of the British. Rebellion against war involvement led by former generals of Transvaal and Free State. De La Rey shot, De Wet arrested. Smuts crushes rand mine strikes using commandos, leaders banished, Jopie Fourie executed. Indian Relief act passed and Smuts-Ghandi agreement ends passive resistance. Ghandi returns to India. Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo and World War I begins. Zeppelins carry out first air raids in Britain. Battle of the Marne.

1915AD Provincetown Players formed in USA. Di Voortrekkers (film) made by African Theatres. L. Rayne forms a Grand New Musical Company to tour The King of Cadonia etc. Various entertainments held to promote recruitment and raise funds for the war effort. The Graaff-Reinetse Letterkundige en Toneelvereniging founded. Nasionale Pers founded in Cape Town. Di Burger, its newspaper, is to become the mouthpiece of the new National Party. Germany surrenders unconditionally to SA troops in German SWA. The Cape Coloured Corps is formed. Junkers designs first fighter plane in Germany. Germans sink a British ocean liner, the “Lusitania” L Asquith heads a coalition government in Britain. Battle of Gallipoli. Poison Gas used for first time.

1916AD Einstein’ s General Theory of Relativity published. First woman elected member of US Congress. Maragret Sanger jailed in New York for opening a birth control clinic. Rasputin killed. Ether Irving and Gilbert Porteau in SA. L.Rayne produces Kismet. Muriel Alexander founds the Alexander School of Drama and Elocution Die Huisgenoot magazine launched. De Voortrekkers premiéres. Die Afrikaner Koffiehuis opens in Cape Town. First SA troops reach Nairobi, Smuts Commander in Chief, Imperial Army, East Africa. SA Brigade loses thousands of men at Delville Wood. Battle of Verdun. Battle of the Somme, where 1.3 million men on both sides are lost. Easter Rebellion in Dublin suppressed by British. Lloyd George heads coalition Government.

1917AD Freud’s Introduction to Psychoanalysis. The Zipper patented in the US. Berthe Goudvis’s A Husband for Rachel produced by the Jewish Guild. Brieux’s Damaged Goods produced by Stephen Black. USA and China enter war against Germany.The Turkjs take Jerusalem. Czar Nicholas II abdicates and Kerensky declares a Republic in Russia. The October Revolution overthrows Kerensky and Lenin becomes Chairman, with Trotsky and Stalin assisting.

1918AD US Post Office burns issues of a newspaper (Little Review) containing parts of James Joyce’s Ullyses. Spanish Flu sweeps the world. Theatre Guild formed in New York. Habima Theatre in Moscow opens. Meyerhold directs Mayakovsky’s Mystery Bouffe in Moscow. L.Rayne produces Milestones with Martha van Hulsteyn. She leaves SA to attain success in England as Marda Vanne. Theatres closed by the flu epidemic (“Die groot Griep”). Rayne and Godfrey in The Royal Divorce. Rayne dies. African Consolidated Theatres buy His Majesty’s Theatre in Pretoria and convert it to The Capitol??** Langenhoven writes Die Stem van Suid-Afrika. Founding of the Gamma Sigma debating societies. An armistice is signed, formally ending the First World War. US President Wilson proposes the Fourteen Points, precursior of the League of Nations.Czar Nicholas and family executed. Poland becomes a Republic, Yugoslavia and Czechoslavia gain independence.

1919AD First non-stop Atlantic flight by Alcock and Whitten-Brown. Violent race riots in Chicago. Cape Town Reps founded. Muriel Alexander produces Euripides’s The Trojan Women in Pretoria Town Hall (first Greek classical play performed in SA). Johannesburg Operatic and Dramatic Society (JODS) formed. South African Aerial Transports run by Major Miller, first airline to operate in SA. Louis Botha dies, succeeded as prime minister by Jan Smuts. Treaty of Versailles signed, containing a harsh program of reparation. The German Worker’s Party formed in Germany. Amitsar massacre of Ghandi’s followers in India

1920AD World’s first radio broadcasting station in Pittsburgh, USA. American women get the right to vote. Beginning of Prohibition in USA. Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. The first Saltzburg Festival. Gémier founds Thèâtre National Populaire. Harry Lauder tours SA. Rent control introduced in the Union. Van Ryneveld and Brand complete first flight from London to Cape Town. League of Nations formally constituted. Palestine becomes a British mandate. Government of Ireland act provides for two separate parliaments for North and South.IRL founded by Michael Collins. Ghandi emerges as India’s leader in the struggle for independence. End of Russian Civil war. Irish Republican Army formed. The German Worker’s Party becomes the National Socialist (NAZI) Party.

1921AD Death of Caruso. Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (his first full-length) Karel Capek’s R.U.R first performed. Massacre of the “Israelites” settlement at Bulhoek near Cradock. South West Africa granted a nominated advisory council, representing South Africans and Germans. Hitler’s Storm Troops harrass opponents. Washington Naval Conference decides to limit arms expansion.

1922AD Discovery and opening of Tutankhamen’s Tomb at Luxor. British Boradcasting Corporation (BBC) established. First Reader’s Digest published in USA. Insulin used for the first time to treat diabetes. John Barrymore plays Hamlet in London Muriel Alexander produces Troades in Johannesburg. [Factory vrouwens??] The mine riots put down by Smuts, killing 230 people in the process. Southern Rhodesia chooses responsible government under Britain, rather than join Union of SA. Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk) begins reforms, leading to the Republic of Turkey.Mussolini’s Blackshirts march on Rome and he becomes prime minister of the new Fascist government.Egypt gains independence from Britain as the Kingdom of Egypt.Irish Free State constituted.Ghandi imprisoned for 6 years.

1923AD First English FA Cup final played at Wembley. Earthquake in Tokyo and Yokohama kills 140,000 people. Hitler’s Mein Kampf written while in jail. Moscow Art Theatre in New York. Boleslavsky and Ouspenskaya found New York Laboratory Theatre. Shaw’s Saint Joan. Louis Leipoldt’s Die Heks (The Witch). First radio broadcasts by the South African Railways. Union Parliament passes the Natives (Urban Areas) Act. German Nationals in SWA become British subjects. Southern Rhodesia formally annexed by Britain as self-governing colony. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) established. Hitler attempts overthrow of Bavarian Governement and arrested. Mussolini establishes a one-party Fascist state in Italy. Ruhr Valley occupied by French and Belgian troops. Turkey becomes a republic under Atatürk.

1924AD More than half the cars in the world are Model T Fords. André Breton publishes the Surrealist Manifesto. Lenin dies. Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock The first published play in Xhosa, uNongqause by Mary Waters. Lenie by Fagan produced. Belgian actor/director Paul de Groot arrives in South Africa. Regular radio broadcasts begin in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Industrial Conciliation Act passed. Bantu Mens’s Social Club (BMSC) founded in Johannesburg. Smuts’s government falls and is replaced by a Nationalist-Labour coalition, with Hertzog as prime minister.

1925AD Cosmic radiation identified by Millikin. Contract Bridge invented by Harold Vanderbilt. Empire Exhibition held at Wembley, London. Teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution banned in Tennessee, USA. Pirandello opens Theatre of Art in Rome. Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. Oorskotjie (Scampolo by Niccodemi), Leipoldt’s Die Heks and Huis Toe (Sudermann's Heimat) in Afrikaans. Imfene kaDebeza Neminye Imidlalwana ("Debeza's Baboon") by Guybon B. Sinxo published in Xhosa, the first published play in a South African indiginous language. First Afrikaans professional companies founded: the Paul de Groot Company and Hanekom's Die Afrikaanse Toneelspelers. Wena Naude begins her career. Afrikaans declared an official language in the place of Dutch. French motorists reach Cape Town from Algiers. Prince of Wales tours SA. First sports broadcast from Newlands rugby ground. Von Hindenburg becomes President of Germany. Locarno Pact signed inSwitzerland, to guarantee the non-violation of European frontiers.

1926AD First liquid fuel rocket is launched by physicist Goddard in USA. AndreA. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Death of Rudolph Valentino. First woman swims the English Channel. First blue jeans produced by H.D. Lee Co. J.F.W. Grosskopf’s As die tuig skawe (If the Halter Chafes). The Hanekom and De Groot companies amalgamate as the Paul de Groot Toneelgeselskap. Do Huis Toe (Sudermann) and Gerieflike Huwelik (Dumas Snr). Gert Borstlap begins his career and is renamed "André Huguenet". Grasfontein Gold Rush attracts 25,000 men. Herman Charles Bosman condemned to death for shooting his step-brother. S.A. Government formally announces the need for a new national flag. Joseph Stalin begins his leadershhip of the USSR.

1927AD Lindbergh completes first non-stop solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St Louis. The last Model T Ford manufactured. Oil discovered in northern Iraq. The Jazz Singer is shown. The Johannesburg Reps founded by Muriel Alexander. Metetwa Lucky Stars, first troupe of Black actors, formed. “Talkies” – shorts shown after the silent feature film – are shown by Kinemas S.A. Carnegie Foundation agrees to fund a study of the “poor white” problem. The Herbers open their shop Greatermans in Brakpan. Cohen and Miller open the first OK Bazaars in Johannesburg. The Schlesinger Organization forms the African Broadcasting Corporation. The first tourists enter the Kruger National Park.

1928AD The Latin alphabet adopted in Turkey. Fleming discovers penicillin. Amelia Earhart first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Graf Zeppelin arrives in New York on its first commercial flight. D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover published privately in Italy, banned in Britain. Oxford English Dictionary published in 12 volumes. The Abbey Theatre rejects O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie. Paul Robeson in Kern’s Showboat. Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera. Mickey Mouse is born. First published play in Southern Sotho :Pitso ea linonyana (Sekese) First radio drama broadcast by ABC: The Marriage will not Take Place (Sutro). Hanekom and De Groot split, De Groot tours Haar Twede Man (Géraldy). Johannesburg Reps first production, R.U.R (Capek). Krugersdorp Dramatic and Operatic Club founded. SA Iron and Steel Industrial Corporation founded. New SA flag shown for first time, next to Union Jack. Rugby test matches broadcast for the first time in SA. Chiang Kai-shek elected President of China, after conquering Peking. Kellog-Brand Pact denoundcing war signed by 65 countries.

1929AD Wall Street crash heralds the Great Depression. Graf Zeppelin airship completes first around the world flight. Hypertension and heart disease linked for the first time by Levine. The first tape recorder, the Blattnerphone, invented by Blattner. Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. First crease resistant fabrics by Tootals of St Helens, England. Norman Bel Geddes directs Hamlet in New York De Groot tours Geleende Geld (The Doll House by Ibsen).Isaac and Esau Mthethwa form the Lucky Stars. The variety group African Own Entertainers founded. Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) – a federation of Afrikaans cultural organizations - formed, to co-ordinate and promote Afrikaans cultural activities. Deneys Reitz’s Boer war journal, Commando, is published. A government subsidy allows Major Miller to float Union Airways, a regular airmail and passenger service. Herbert Hoover president in USA, Ramsay Macdonald in second term as Prime Minister in Britain.

1930AD General depression sets in world wide. The planet Pluto is discovered. Amy Johnson first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. British Airship 101 crashes and burns in France. Constantinople renamed Istanbul by Atatürk. Gielgud plays Hamlet for the first time African Film Productions produces its first “talkies”. Ampie (Van Bruggen) opens in Opera House, Pretoria, starring André Huguenet. A huge success. The Red Robe by Brieux produced by the Johannesburg Reps. South African white women get the vote. Haile Salassie becomes Emperor of Ethiopia. Ghandi leads a civil disobedience campaign in India, seeking independence from Britain..

1931AD Atomic energy research pioneered at Columbia University, USA and they announce discovery of heavy water. Empire State Building in New York opened. Britain and SA off the gold standard. The Group Theatre formed in the USA. Habima moves from Moscow to Tel Aviv. The Little Theatre in Cape Town opens with a production of The Seagull by Chekhov. Huguenet tours the controversial racial play Mal Hans. SA off gold standard. First records produced by the Singer Gramophone Co. Ellis Park becomes venue for SA Tennis Championships. Maize exports drop drastically. Eisteddofdau established for Africans. A Spanish Republic constituted when the King is driven into exile.

Return to

Return To A Chronology of South African Theatre and Performance

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page