Arena Theatre Company

There have been three Arena Theatre Companies:

1. A short-lived theatre company founded in the 1950's and based in Johannesburg.

2. The PACT Arena Company

3. A Cape Town-based company established in 1997.

Arena Theatre Company, Johannesburg (1955-1956)

The Arena Theatre Company was a short-lived theatrical group that was launched to produce “plays of real merit”. Its first production was John Whiting’s Marching Song, which was staged at the ATKV Hall on 26 December 1955. This was followed by Jean Anouilh’s The Lark, which had its first night at the Chelsea Palate in Berea on 16 April 1956, after which it lost its venue because of a strict application of the Liquor Act. It went on a short tour of the Rand and reopened on 9 May at the Windmill Theatre.

Christopher Fry’s The Lady's not for Burning (19 September 1956) and Anouilh’s Antigone (7 November 1956) were both staged at the Intimate Theatre at the YMCA, but by that time a lack of support from the theatre-going public meant that the company was in serious financial trouble. A planned production of Wycherley’s The Country Wife never took place and by the end of the year the group gave up the unequal struggle. Whereas Marching Song was directed by visiting producer Clifford Williams, the other three productions were directed by Will Jamieson.

Performers involved over this period included Ricky Arden, Lee Bolon, Violet Brady, Bodil Brink, Richard Clark, Felix Cooper, Lorna Cowell, June Davidson, Rigby Foster, Beryl Gordon, Jennie Gratus, Arthur Hall, Laurence Hall, Alan Hean, Mervyn John, Rita Kay, Robert Lang, Michael Laschinger, Valerie Philip, Robin Parker, Stanley Raphael, George Sears, Simon Swindell, Barbara Thompson, Jeremy Wallace, Ewald Williamson and Robert Wilson.