South African drama and theatre heritage (part I): a map of where we find ourselves

Abstract

The inaccessibility of documents on South African theatre productions poses a considerable problem in both the research and teaching of theatre. The gap that this has created in our literary history may be irreversible as live performance is the most ephemeral of art forms. The recording of theatre performance inevitably implies a distortion of the original event, but is nevertheless of vital importance for theatre research. This article first explicates the importance of, and controversy around, theatre archiving and then maps the history and surveys the current status of South African theatre archiving, and finds that we face three related problems in this regard. Firstly, the Centre for Information on the Arts (SACIA) collection, which functioned as a clearing house for the performing arts from 1971 to the late 1980s, might become inaccessible in the National Archives, where it is now held. Secondly, there is no easily accessible documentation on South African theatre between the late 1980s and the recent present and, thirdly, we do not have a system in place to document theatre currently performed – especially those performances presented at arts festivals by ad hoc companies. This article concludes with an appeal to theatre academics and practitioners to take action in order to preserve our theatre heritage.

Keywords:

• theatre archive
• National Archive
• CESAT
• SACIA
• arts festival
• Aardklop

Notes

1. These included PACT: the Performing Arts Council of Transvaal, PACOFS: the Performing Arts Council of the Orange Free State, CAPAB: the Cape Performing Arts Board and NAPAC: the Natal Performing Arts Council.

2. These are published as Paradise, the Castle and the Vineyard: Lady Anne Barnard's Cape Diaries (2006), edited by Margaret Lenta; The Cape Diaries of Lady Anne Barnard, 1799–1800 (1999), edited by Margaret Lenta and Basil le Cordeur; and The Cape Journals of Lady Anne Barnard (1994), edited by A.M. Lewin Robinson, Margaret Lenta and Dorothy Driver.

3. Drama en toneel in Suid-Afrika (Drama and theatre in South Africa, 1928) and Drama en toneel in Suid-Afrika, deel II: 1856–1912 (Drama and theatre in South Africa, part II: 1856–1912, 1980).

4. Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse toneel (Development of the Afrikaans theatre, 1978).

5. Applous! Die kronieke van ’n toneelspeler (Applause! The chronicles of a stage actor, 1950).

6. My Own Personal Star: An Autobiography (1978).

7. The Audience is Waiting (1962).

8. The Flag is Flying: A Very Personal History of Theatre in the Old South Africa (1996).

9. These include Donald Inskip's Forty Little Years – The Story of a Theatre (1972), Pat Schwartz's The Best of Company (1988), Brian Barrow and Yvonne Williams-Short's Theatre Alive: The Baxter Story (1987), Malcolm Wolfson's The Melody Lingers On (1992) and Arthur Hoffman and Anna Romain's They Built a Theatre (1980).

10. For example, at the time this article was written, only five of the roughly 38 drama texts produced at Aardklop 2008 could be found on the DALRO database, namely Nataniël's BOOM!; Call us crazy by Josias Moleele; Diensmeisies, Wim Vorster's translation of Jean Genet's Les Bonnes (The Maids, 1947); Ludolf Parker's stage adaptation of Pat Stametélos's Kroes (Frizzle, 2005); and ʼn Lang dagreis na die nag, André P. Brink's translation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1966).

11. We collected the programmes used in this study at the festival from 2000 to 2012.

12. This translates as ‘Meat, Rice and Potatoes’, a colloquial reference to the staple diet generally associated with the traditional Afrikaner.

13. Since not all the collaborators of a specific production are always listed in the programme, these numbers are an estimate.

14. See the following reviews: Protesteater haal boeie af, Jan-Jan Joubert (Protest theatre removes its handcuffs, 2011), Marlene van Niekerk blows up a storm in Stellenbosch, Leon de Kock (2011), Spieëlbeeld van SA oorspoel van geweld, Johan Myburg (Mirror image of SA flooded with violence, 2010), Lanfer aan ʼn vlagpaal, Willemien Brümmer (Raising the colours of mourning, 2010), Dit sláát jou, Marga Ley and Marli Jonker (It hits you, 2010), ʼn Rou misdaad-opera, Janice Keogh (A raw crime opera, 2010) and Ongemaklik, maar skrikwekkend mooi, Deborah Steinmar (Uncomfortable, but frighteningly beautiful, 2010).