German Amateurs

An amateur theatrical group which performed plays in German or Dutch in the Cape between about 1788 and 1799. It appears to have been started under the influence of Baron Karl von Wolzogen. In a letter of 1788 the Baron mentions their forming such a society as part of the literary society founded by the German officers, and having by then performed two plays in the Barracks Theatre (Lessing's Der Schatz and Stephan's Deserteur Aus Kindesliebe). No records of the productions of this early period are extant, since they were not for public performance, but only intended as entertainment for the officers and their families.

Sources

Bosman, 1928; Fletcher, 1994

For more information

See also German Theatre in South Africa

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