Les Nonnes

Les Nonnes (French: "The Nuns") is a sinister 1969 comedy by Cuban playwright and novelist Eduardo Manet (1930- ) [1], who writes in French and lives in Paris. The play is set in Haiti at the time of the first Negro revolt of 1804.

The original text

Translations and adaptations

The play has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Translated into English as The Nuns by Robert Baldick (1927-1972) [2] in 1970.

Translated from the English into Afrikaans as Die Nonne, by Mees Xteen in 1973.

Performance history in South Africa

1972: The Nuns presented by PACT at the Arena Theatre, Johannesburg, directed by Norman Coombes, starring Nigel Vermaas (Mother Superior), Ken Leach (Sister Angela), Frantz Dobrowsky (Sister Inez) and Sue Kiel (The Senora).

1973: Die Nonne, the Xteen Afrikaans translation was staged in the Hofmeyr Theatre, directed by Mees Xteen.

1984: The Nuns , directed by Rudy Nadler-Nir (who took over the direction after the death of Robert Mohr) was staged at the Little Theatre (5-19 May 1984), starring Gideon de Wet (Sister Ines), Michael Williams (Mother Superior), Rodney Mark Venner (Sister Angela), Rachel Browne (Seneora). Designer A. Samsodien, lighting Pip Marshall, costumes by Jeff Smith.