Their Place on the South African Stage:The Peninsula Dramatic Society and the Trafalgar Players

Racial segregation was a long-standing practice in South Africa, but until the National Government formalized it under apartheid in 1948, social groups formed based on familial bonds, common education and economic status. Consequently, within certain culturally diverse communities, South Africans of various ethnicities interacted with minimal regard for the barriers imposed by state mandated separatism. South African communities such as Cape Town’s District Six were one such microcosm, where multiethnic performance groups such as the Peninsula Dramatic Society (PDS) and the

Trafalgar Players (TP) were born. This historiography explores the relationship between the apartheid these groups. Through oral histories collected from surviving members of the troupes, this study illustrates the impact of social constructs such as race and caste on theatre communities in South Africa. It extends scholarly knowledge regarding the epidemiology and social impact of apartheid and highlights Resistance Theatre as cultural phenomena, a declaration of identity and vehicle for equality and social justice. Most important, it brings into focus, some of the individuals who, through their stagecraft, gave shape, form and voice to coloured resistance theatre.