Kommapunt
Kommapunt by Dianne du Toit Albertze (19**-) and company
Kommapunt ("Semicolon") is an Afrikaans devised piece about depression, assembled from poems and prose that the participants wrote about their own experience of it. It is performed without costumes, make-up or set dressing beyond a cluttered student flat, the company seated in a circle reading their writing aloud and encouraging one another to speak; the audience is drawn into that circle.
Contents
The original text
The piece grew out of a WhatsApp group that Dianne du Toit Albertze convened as a second-year drama student at Stellenbosch University while struggling with depression. Nine writers contributed, students together with one school pupil, and the material was put together informally; the author has likened the assembly to a patchwork quilt. It was entered for the 2017 US Woordfees at the last minute. For the 2018 festival the text was rewritten entirely. No published text has been traced*.
Translations and adaptations
None traced*.
Performance history in South Africa
2017: First staged at the US Woordfees, Stellenbosch*, with the company performing in a circle formed around the audience. The company of Kommapunt received the Woordtrofee for best newcomers.
2018: Restaged at the US Woordfees at the festival's invitation, with a wholly rewritten text and a company of five.
Sources
'Kommapunt oor depressie', Klyntji, 16 March 2018.
'US WoordTROfees 2017: Teater en musiek', LitNet, 2017.
'Kommapunt by die US Woordfees - 'n onderhoud', LitNet, 6 February 2017.
Griebenow, Marina. 2025. 'Ons change die narrative van Namakwaland', INK (Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees), 16 October 2025.
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