Die Bedriegers
Die Bedriegers (“The Cheats”) is an Afrikaans farce by D.P. du Toit (1870-1936).
Contents
The original text
Originally written in Cape Dutch sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, and titled Di Bedriegers, it is considered to be the first fully Afrikaans play, about four men faking illness to avoid being called up for military duty on the border.
The title was later adapted to more modern Afrikaans idiom as Die Bedriegers. (It would be spelled Die Bedrieërs in contemporary Afrikaans)
Rewritten the same year (to make provision for two women characters and allow women to perform), it was thereafter performed in various centres across the country.
The text was long unpublished, but was eventually included in the compendium called Di bedriegers, Magrita Prinslo, en ander Afrikaanse dramas en samesprake tot 1900 by F.C.L. Bosman. Voortrekkerpers, 1942 (reprinted by Human & Rousseau, 1975).
Published in Die Storm en Ander Eenbedrywe, compiled by P.G. Nel, Perskor in 1972.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1882/3: Performed in Somerset East Town Hall sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, possibly by the Somerset Oos Debatsvereniging, with the author as a member of the cast.
For example:
1909-1910: Performed by theAHTV in Pretoria.
Sources
Copy of a catalogue (handwritten by various hands) of the F.C.L. Bosman collection held at the Nasionale Afrikaanse Letterkunde Museum en Navorsingsentrum (NALN) in Bloemfontein.
List of Afrikaans dramas published between 1960 and 1977, compiled by NALN.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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