Drama en toneel in Suid-Afrika. Deel 1. 1652-1855

[p. 388]

Hoofstuk VII.
Toneel weg van die Kaap¹⁾.

Van Kaapstad en Simonstad brei die toneel hom uit naar Stellenbosch en Grahamstad in hierdie tydperk. In Stellenbosch is dit Hollandse toneel. Dit behandel ek elders²⁾. In Grahamstad is dit Engelse toneel.

1) Ek gee nie voor om volledig te wees nie. My bronne in hierdie opsig was baie fragmentaries.

2) Sien bls. 253.

§ 1. Grahamstad.

‘Grahamstown theatricals proper,’ sê Laidler³⁾, ‘commenced in 1837, when an amateur company playing under the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense, staged Sheridan's The Rivals, a hornpipe, and several comic songs; the concluding piece was the farce of Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes). The local paper commented on the production thus: ‘On Monday evening last, the 4^th inst., the Grahamstown Amateur Company, under the motto Honi soit etc., commenced their amusements for the first time... Their little theatre was, in the words of the Prologue:

“Got up, not by enchanter's wand so scurvy,
But by the aid of Rathbone, I'ons and Turvey,”

in the short space of twenty-one days, and does infinite credit to the taste and talents of these gentlemen. The wood scene in particular was well executed, and drew forth the unanimous applause of a very crowded audience. It would be unfair to criticise or analyse the literary attainments of Mrs. Malaprop, the extreme “coolness”, of Sir Anthony, the valour of Fighting Rob... The dresses were neat and in good taste, and the music though weak, very fair, but in this particular the Prologue informed the audience that the amateurs had intended greater things:-

3) Annals ens. bls. 44. Hier moet ek my op Laidler verlaat, wat hier, soos elders, waarskynlik wemel van foute.

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‘“... our scenes to delight,

 

But - 't was not quite disposable to-night”.

The amateur band, however, under the able direction of Mr. Franklin, did their best, and gave great satisfaction. The laughable afterpiece was done to perfection’.

Vir 1838 vermeld Laidler niks nie, maar elders¹⁾ sê hy, sprekende oor Kaapstad: ‘The company Honi soit qui mal y pense, a motto that was an appropriate reply to the Cape agitators, had a long and successful career. During 1838 its members produced: The Castle Spectre, or The Ghost of Evelina (Lewis); The Rivals (Sheridan), Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes), a burlesque opera, Chronomoholonthologus²⁾, The Spectre Bridegroom (Moncrieffe), with glees, songs, and a hornpipe, between the acts; The Midnight Hour (Mrs. Inchbald), Love Laughs at Locksmiths Colman Jr.), Fortune's Frolic (Allingham), with a charming characteristic song Kaatje Kekkelbek’.

Ek dink Laidler verwar hier Kaapstad en Grahamstad. Ek weet nie van 'n Engelse geselskap (of ook Hollandse wat miskien Engelse stukke speel) van hierdie naam in hierdie jaar aan die Kaap nie³⁾. Wel dra, volgens Laidler self, die geselskap in Grahamstad hierdie naam, en sou in 1839 nog speel - maar nie in 1837 nie?

Enkele van die stukke wat hy noem word aan die Kaap in 1838 gespeel, maar andere, wat in dieselfde advertensies moes voorgekom het, noem hy nie! En hy skyn volledig te wil wees.

Kortom ek glo Laidler se mededeling het betrekking op Grahamstad, maar in Kaatje Kekkelbek moet hy hom vergis⁴⁾.

‘In 1839’, vervolg Laidler⁵⁾, ‘this company produced the melodrama The Innkeeper of Abbeville (Fitzball), and the farce Love, Law and Physic (Kenney). To prevent confusion no money was taken at the door. Among the sales advertised that year was that of a barrel organ “playing ten admired hymn and psalm tunes”. Temperance tea parties and Turf Club meetings constituted the gamut of Grahamstown's amusement. During December, at the Commercial Hall, where the amateurs had played, a “Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre of Arts'opened and showed automaton figures, views

1) Annals ens. bls. 40.

2) Chrononhotonthologus deur Carey stellig bedoel.

3) Sien bls. 196, 207 e.v.

4) Sien bls. 506. Vermoedelik nie voor 1843, op sy vroegste, nie.

5) Annals ens. bls. 45.

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of some of the most splendid cities in Europe and America, and a storm at sea, with a shipwreck¹⁾’.

Grahamstad is 'n duidelike weerspieëling van die toneel aan die Kaap. Organisasie, aard van stukke, tot selfs die moeilikhede in verband met geld by die deur vir toegang aanneem, is dieselfde²⁾. Die Metodistiese gees is oorheersend³⁾.

1) Van Parker. vgl. bls. 231 e.v.

2) Sien bls. 365.

3) Sien bls. 351 e.v. (o.a. verval 354).