Shipboard Performances and Entertainments

This refers to the old shipping practice

South African examples

1600(?): Francois Pyrard (fl 1600), a French passenger on a Portuguese ship sailing past the Cape of Good Hope, recorded the presentation of "a very pretty comedy that had been got ready and rehearsed on the way from Goa to the Cape, to be played when [they] passed it".

1608: Captain W. Keeling (fl. 1600) , commander of the Dutch East India Company's ship The Dragon recorded a number of shipboard performances of Shakespeare (Hamlet, Richard II, etc) as they sailed from Sierra Leone to the Cape of Good Hope.

1872: The Cape Argus of 28 December, 1872 reported a shipboard Christmas Eve entertainment on the mailboat The Courland", consisting of a "farcical charade" by officers and passengers, based on the word "Indignation". The name of a certain Mr Gibbs is specifically mentioned as the author of the fine text.