Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr de Waal
DE WAAL, Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (known as J.H.H. de Waal) (1871-1937). Teacher, writer, poet, dramatist and editor of De Goede Hoop (1903-1914), in which most of his verse, prose plays first appeared. Trained as a lawyer, he initially became a teacher in Uitenhage and Utrecht, he moved to Cape Town in 1893?*. A founding member of the Afrikaanse Taalvereniging (3 November 1906), he battled to get Afrikaans recognized in the Cape courts. Became a member of parliament in 1915 and served as Speaker of the House between 1929 and 1933. He is best remembered as a writer of the novel Johannes van Wyk, and as a writer of one-act plays, which linked up with the farces of Melt Brink as well as the historical romanticism of S.J. du Toit. While not rated highly as literature, they nevertheless provided plenty of material for amateur theatre groups and schools, and so helped establish an Afrikaans theatre culture. F.C.L Bosman (1928, 1980) considers him one of the founding fathers of Afrikaans theatre. His early "samesprake" ("dialogues"), written escpecially little concerts he did with the Christian youth group (CJV, Christen Jongelieden Vereniging) of the Nieuwe Kerk ("New Chiurch") and performed in the Wicht Hall of the in Cape Town. These include Di dokter van di dorp ("The doctor of the town"), Jan en Katrina, 'n Les oor di Tier ("a lesson about the tiger") and Jacob Riem en di Varki ("Jacob Riem and the Pig"), which appear to have been among the very first plays specifically performed in Afrikaans (possibly in Uitenhage in 1892, in Cape Town ca.1893 or 1894). Among his later plays the better known are Anjelina (1903), Die spioen en sy handlangers (“The spy and his cronies” - 1907), Amper maar nog nie (“Almost but not quite” – 1907), 'n Skoonvader ("A Father-in-Law" - 1910). Much later came Die dobbelspeletjie (“The gambling game” – 1930) and Die jonge skrywer (“The young writer” - 1931), in which he reacts strongly to negative criticism, notably from [[Gustav Preller}Preller]] and Schoonees. His autobiography, entitled ..Herhinnerings ("Memories") was published in 1932. (Binge, 1969; De Beer, 1995; Kannemeyer, 1983; Du Toit, 1988) [JH]
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