**
** **
Lydia Lindeque, the pioneering South African actress and wife of Uys Krige
swore to her dying day that this story was true:****
Around the late 1940’s in a small rural Karoo town, in a town-hall made of
wood and iron, a travelling theatre company performed a play in Afrikaans. *
***
The whole (white) town turned out. The mayor and the dominee, deacons and
dignitaries lined the front rows. The rest of the audience were all
coloured, restless and loud behind the pound seats; obviously new to the drama
on the stage. The melodrama proceeded…..A shot is fired. An actress
pitches over sideways into the hero’s arms.****
He turns, quivering, to the audience and implores, “En wat moet ek nou maak?”
Someone right at the back calls out, “Naai haar voor sy koud word!”****
The act is halted. The mayor confers with the dominee, addresses the
audience and unforthcoming culprit; behave, or no more play. The coloured
konstabel is sent to stroll up and down the central aisle, brandishing his
truncheon menacingly.****
The actors crank it up again. On stage a cup of tea is sipped. With pinkie
cocked, the hero muses, “Wat is darem lekkerder as ‘n koppie tee?” ****
The konstabel turns to the crowd, his truncheon prominent in his hand, “As
iemand *”poes”* sê, slat ek hom stukkend!”****