Palace of Varieties

Palace of Varieties or Palace of Variety
This seems to have been a generic name for a number of theatrical establishments in South Africa during the period 1889-1910. These venues had a number of varying of names over the years, and never seem to be referred to consistently. These include The Empire Theatre, The Old Empire Theatre, The Empire Music Hall, The Empire Palace of Variety, The Empire Palace of Varieties, The Gaity Palace of Varieties, Oudtshoorn. It pretty much seems to depend on who is renting it and who is writing about it, though the term “music hall" was an earlier one, usually replaced by the more flamboyant “palace of varieties” – [TH, McM].

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