Trollop in Context

The 1982 photo comic Trollop Slaap te Veel is essentially the third incarnation of a story by poet Johan van Wyk. The first version was to be found within the poem Staatsgreep (although the Trollop character was dubbed Engelbrecht), the second being the play Wieretuin (which featured music by Neil Goedhals and starred later KOOS frontman Marcel van Heerden as Trollop). Despite being an effective story in its own right, it is subscript to read Trollop Slaap te Veel without consideration of the baggage that both Van Wyk and Goedhals bring to it.

Common to both is discharge from the military due to perceived “insanity”. In Goedhals’ case it was due to a refusal to accede to instruction and, when questioned as to his reasoning, responding with “Somme.”  Van Wyk for his part suffered a severe nervous breakdown as a result of the pressures of being a contientious objector. Echoes of the trauma experienced during this period can be seen in Trollop’s nightmares about the Colonel in the Military Hospital.

Thus it can be presumed that Trollop has suffered a similar experience to that of van Wyk and Goedhals. The story, therefore, concerns itself with the aftermath. Echoing the Zeitgeist inherent in that period of anti-apartheid Afrikaner identity crises (leading to, but not limited to, movements such as Voëlvry) Trollop is a shattered man. Having lost all faith in the possibility of a higher power, Trollop has perceived the inverted pyramid of structured, accountable morality come crashing down.

Subsequently, and with nothing left to believe in, all that he finds himself able to do is sleep. The result is a jarring, surreal narrative that mirrors his own traversal from consciousness to dream-state; oneirism essentially. Within the context of this exhibition, this is punctuated with music from two of Goedhals’ releases: Sy Slaap Naak and Other Punk Numbers (released posthumously by Johan van Wyk) and The Prisoners Go Go Band Live! at the Butchery with Special Guests on Fire (also featuring Yunus Momoniat, Nilam Hira and Rooha Variava).

Played at random, these songs extend (and indeed enhance) the fragmented reality of van Wyk’s poem and Nikos Konstanderas’ photography through Goedhals’ preference of idea over entity. As such the songs leap about in seemingly arbitrary manners, attempting an idea with scant regard for their place within established notions of “song structure” or harmony. This is certainly not to imply that they have negligible musical worth or, indeed, are not musically brilliant, just that they are far removed from the three minute wonders populating your local radio station’s “Top 10” list.

Originally published in an extremely limited run in 1982, this version of the photo-comic is the result of a tireless labour of love by John Nankin (who managed to track down and receive the images from Nikos Konstanderas) and the kind authorisation of Johan van Wyk.