Preserving our theatre heritage

Cape Town - It’s often in the hands of a small group of passionate people to preserve our heritage. Theatre, which documents so much of the changing landscape in this country, is in trouble on many fronts and one of the huge headaches is the preservation of what is happening on our stages around the country.

Others have spotted the gap and the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature, (Professor Marisa Keuris and Lida Krüger, to be exact) in collaboration with the Unisa Library Archive, is launching a South African drama and theatre heritage project.

It all started when these two Unisa academics wondered and worried about our cultural heritage and whether any- one was looking out for it. In any country where there are big changes, things will fall through the cracks. Think of the performing arts councils and what has happened since their closure. They played an important role in terms of preservation matters which, in most instances, has disappeared.

At Pretoria’s State Theatre, for example, Bronwen Lovegrove, manager costumes and decor, is also trying to maintain the archives, but that’s impossible to do in-between all her other duties. And when she retires, there will be a gap.

The different festivals often don’t do much archival work either. Grahamstown is fortunate that Lynette Marais, former director of the National Arts Festival, is care-taking its archival needs. But in many instances that doesn’t happen.

The main objective of this project is to establish and mobilise a network of partners across the nation who will assist in preserving and developing the country’s drama and theatre heritage. Various institutions which have developed valuable collections in the past (like the Centre for Theatre Research at the Human Sciences Research Council, the HSRC) have closed these collections, while access to them can also often be difficult.

As a first step they are trying to establish a database of current information (collections). This information will be placed on their website – with possible links to specific websites (institutions, production houses, individual artists, etc). Short descriptions of the various collections (“directories”) will be given to assist potential researchers to find information on a particular matter.

“We will insert as many relevant links as possible to make the information as comprehensive as possible,” said Keuris.

They are also establishing a safe repository for any drama/theatre material in the Unisa Library Archive.

“We invite any production houses, and individual artists, to contact us if they have any material (texts, photos, posters, programmes, etc) which they would like to preserve according to established archival standards,” she explained.

The invitation entails that this material will be professionally archived, indexed and made accessible for research purposes. The production house/artist retains the copyright and performance rights of all material submitted.

They are collaborating with Professor Temple Hauptfleisch (who established the HSRC’s theatre archive all those years ago and is still working in this area) on this project and colleagues from the drama departments of the University of the Free State, Stellenbosch University and the Tshwane University of Technology have expressed their support. But they need support and contacts to enlarge their network of partners and invite any interested parties who want to participate in this project to contact them. They clearly can’t do this on their own, but it needs someone to drive the initiative, and these two women are determined to do just that.

Giving this new initiative a kick-start, long-time Pretorians Carel Trichardt and Petru Wessels contributed all the material from their Sunnyside Teaterhuisie days (1995 to 2002) to this heritage project.

“Theatre is such a fleeting experience,” noted Trichardt. “It’s something just a particular audience can claim as a memory.”

He is thrilled that at least there is a chance again for the preservation of local theatre.

The couple are moving to Cape Town where they still hope to work in theatre and film, but they are excited that their memories and hard work will be preserved for future generations. Die Teaterhuisie served a niche audience and filled a unique gap in those years. Its closure also led to the launch of the Pierneef Teater run by Jopie Koen, who was a protégé of the veteran acting couple.

With the renewal and hopefully future research on our cultural heritage, we’ll be able to look back and celebrate what is being done daily on our stages.

• Prof Marisa Keuris: 012 429 6319 or [email protected] and Lida Krüger: 012 429 6424 or [email protected]