"The Time of Breaking" by Peter Rodda

Manuscript drafts and correspondence related to the play 'The Time of Breaking' by Peter Rodda. The correspondence concerns the publication and performance of the play and includes comments and criticisms from various friends of the author. 'The Time of Breaking' refers to experiences of many South African radicals who experienced detention without trial and extensive police interrogation in the early 1960s.

Peter Gordon Rodda was a South African anti-apartheid activist and writer. He was born in Piet Retief in 1937, and studied at the universities of Natal and Cape Town where he joined the South African Liberal Party and wrote prolifically in student magazines. He worked as a high school teacher in Natal and a lecturer in English at Rhodes University and the University of South Africa, but was imprisoned and interrogated in 1964 because of his anti-apartheid campaigning role. Leaving his native country for England, he found a teaching job in Hertfordshire and began writing about his South African experiences. 'The Time of Breaking' was written in London, where it was performed in 1976, and it was published in South Africa in 'Quarry 76: New South African Writing' (Ad Donker: Johannesburg, 1976). Rodda suffered from mental and physical illness later in his life and died in 2003.

Peter Gordon Rodda was a South African anti-apartheid activist and writer. He was born in Piet Retief in 1937, and studied at the universities of Natal and Cape Town where he joined the South African Liberal Party and wrote prolifically in student magazines. He worked as a high school teacher in Natal and a lecturer in English at Rhodes University and the University of South Africa, but was imprisoned and interrogated in 1964 because of his anti-apartheid campaigning role. Leaving his native country for England, he found a teaching job in Hertfordshire and began writing about his South African experiences. 'The Time of Breaking' was written in London, where it was performed in 1976, and it was published in South Africa in 'Quarry 76: New South African Writing' (Ad Donker: Johannesburg, 1976). Rodda suffered from mental and physical illness later in his life and died in 2003.

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