Abstract

This article sets out the South African background to a previously unknown play by John Bright, the Hollywood scriptwriter, based on Wulf Sachs’s famous psycho-documentary Black Hamlet (1937) and written in conversation with him. The playscript appears as an Appendix to this number of English Studies in Africa. The aim is to provide pertinent information to enable international readers and theatre practitioners to assess the script’s historical value and theatrical potential. The article concentrates on the sociological and anthropological moment from which Wulf Sachs’s work emerged and its relevance for understanding the playscript John Bright wrote. Further literary-historical detail about the play’s discovery, focused mainly on America, is available in Wright (2021).

摘要

本文介绍了好莱坞编剧约翰·布莱特（John Bright）根据伍尔夫·萨克斯（Wulf Sachs）著名的心理纪录片《布莱克哈姆雷特》（ Black Hamlet ）（1937 年）改编的一部以前不为人知的剧本的南非背景，并与他交谈。该剧本作为这一数量的非洲英语研究的附录出现。目的是提供相关信息，使国际读者和戏剧从业者能够评估剧本的历史价值和戏剧潜力。这篇文章着重于伍尔夫·萨克斯的作品出现的社会学和人类学时刻，以及它与理解约翰·布莱特所写剧本的相关性。关于该剧发现的更多文学历史细节，主要集中在美国，可在 Wright (2021) 中找到。