Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena
[Lit: “The Wandering Years of Poppie Nongena” - Afrikaans] by Elsa Joubert and Sandra Kotzé.
Contents
The original text
Poppie : die drama by Elsa Joubert, Sandra Kotzé. Tafelberg, 1984.
Translations and adaptations
A stage adaptation of Joubert’s contentious and award-winning political novel of the same name (published 1978) on the story of Poppie and her wanderings, trials and tribulations as a black woman in Apartheid South Africa by Elsa Joubert and Sandra Kotzé.
An English translation (entitled Poppie Nongena’s Long Journey or simply Poppie) was done by Sandra Kotzé and staged at the Market Theatre and in New York in 1983 by Lucille Gillwald. It toured the United States for two years.
Poppie Nongena, Elsa Joubert, Sandra Kotze (musical play adapted for stage by Sandra Kotzé), Hilary Blecher (dir) off Broadway & Edinburgh Festival, 1983..
Performance history in South Africa
First performed by PACOFS in Bloemfontein in 1979 under the direction of Kotzé and featuring Nomsa Nene.
Directed by Hilary Blecher for The Company at the Market Theatre 1980.
PACT Drama production of Poppie in English, based on Elsa Joubert's Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena, adapted by Sandra Kotzé and Elsa Joubert, and produced in 1984, directed by Marius Weyers, with Nomsa Nene and Peter Se-Puma in the cast, also starring Whinney-Isaiah Setimo, Arthur Masekwameng, Aubrey Radebe, Tembsie Times, Themba Nyathi, Carolyn Barkhuizen and Lochner de Kock.
The play made Nomsa Nene famous as "Poppie", a role she played in all the initial versions. In the 1979 Lida Meiring also won a Fleur du Cap Best Actress Award in the role in the Cape version.?*
Presented by KRUIK Toneel under the direction of Pieter Fourie opening 4 July 1981 at the Nico Malan Theatre starring Nomhle Nkonyeni as Poppie, Neels Coetzee, Brümilda van Rensburg, Marko van der Colff, David van der Merwe and Paul Lückhoff. Decor and costumes by Penny Simpson, lighting by John T. Baker.
Marthinus Basson, Lida Meiring, Brümilda van Rensburg and Ian Roberts did about 400 performances of the play on tour. (Burger, 28 March 2012).
Sources
Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena theatre programme (CAPAB), 1981.
NELM Collection: Theatre programmes]: 2013. 2. 1.
Coplan 1983.
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