Anatomizing The Anatomist: The 1936 production of James Bridie’s play in the University of the Witwatersrand’s dissection hall

In May 1936 a performance of James Bridie’s play The Anatomist, was staged in the University of the Witwatersrand’s dissection hall. The Anatomist was based on the 1828 incident when William Burk and Wiliam Hare murdered sixteen people to sell their bodies for dissection to the famous Edinburgh Anatomist Robert Knox. The production was prepared for charitable purposes and was carried out by the Department of Anatomy staff and students. The spiritus movens of the production was Raymond Arthur Dart (1893-1988), Head of the recently established Department of Anatomy. The performances were highly successful, well received by the public and academics. The uniqueness and appropriateness of a dissection hall as the venue was emphasised by all reviewers as was the engaging performance of the students and staff, particularly Raymond Dart. Robert Knox, “the anatomist” in the centre of the Burke and Hare affaire, was not portraited negatively, as he was seen at the time when the crimes were committed, but as a victim of unfortunate circumstances in the noble pursuit of science. Indeed, the ethics of using unclaimed bodies for dissection, a common practice in the 1930s, was not seen as an ethical challenge, an issue which will be raised only by the next generation of South African anatomists.