Barnyard Theatres

Origins

The concept of the Barnyard Theatres came about when the media couple Louis Möller (co-founder and producer of, Carte Blanche) and his wife (freelance actress and TV presenter) Sybel Coetzee decided to opt out of the media world in 1989 to raise their family on a dairy farm just outside Plettenberg Bay. After a few years of farming they sought a way to combine their two interests, theatre and farming. The result was the birth of the original Barnyard Theatre in 1996, originally run as a venue for visiting artists. Louis had built a beautiful, rustic American-style wooden barn on the farm, which Sybel and Louis converted into a theatre with an old-world atmosphere, heavy wooden beams, a horseshoe gallery, big tables with welcoming lanterns and wood chips on the floor.

The first Barnyard Theatre was in a district that had no dedicated performance space and the local theatre-loving community was starved for live entertainment. The Barnyard filled this need. Audiences were seated at wooden tables and bars and some in private boxes. They were invited to bring their own food and beverages and the evening would turn into a social event before and after the performance. This became a popular hallmark of the Barnyard Theatre. In technical terms, the venue simply offered production companies a stage, basic lighting and a good sound system.

A number of theatres were subsequently built for schools (e.g. Summerset College, near Somerset West and *** near Franschoek). Out of this developed the idea of a franchised series of theatres throughout the country, called The Barnyard Theatres.

The Barnyard Theatres franchise

A series of of franchised theatres, devised and built by Louis Möller, for mainly musical and dinner theatre. Starting with the original wooden Barnyard Theatre, Plettenberg Bay in 1996, he franchised the idea and formed a company to build specialised dinner theatre venues across the country, in a variety of settings (schools, shopping malls, etc.), all called The Barnyard Theatre. There were such theatres in Durban, Hilton, Johannesburg, Somerset West, Franschoek (at one point there twelve of these independent commercial theatres situated around the country). A number of them were managed directly by Barnyard Theatre Production Company (e.g. Cresta in Randburg, at Emperors Palace, East Rand, Gateway, Durban, Park View Pretoria East, Sunninghill in Rivonia, Willowbridge near Cape Town).

Franchisees paid an entry fee and a percentage of profits to the group, received training and were managed to set up a theatre in their area according to the formula, principles and style of the chain. The group secured productions to tour the circuit of their theatres. Audiences, individuals or companies, could buy single seats or boxes for a single performance or for a three-year period at a once-off price.

Asof 2019, there are five Barnyard Theatres across South Africa: three in Gauteng, one in Cape Town and one in Durban. The Barnyard Theatres include:

Emperors Palace Barnyard (East Rand, JHB)
Silverstar Barnyard (West Rand, JHB)
Suncoast Barnyard (Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World, Durban)
Menlyn Barnyard (Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, Pretoria)
Tyger Valley Barnyard (Tyger Valley Centre, Bellville).

The Barnyard Theatre provides an old-world, informal, yet sophisticated environment. Each venue is slightly different however the general layouts, look and feel of the theatre interior are all similar and resemble the original concept.

The Barnyard Theatre Production Company

In 2000 Louis Moller joined forces with the South African musician Duck Chowles to form the Barnyard Theatre Production Company. Chowles (who produced the first Barnyard show in 2000) directs and produces all Barnyard Theatres productions, contributing his creativity to the production of over 700 shows.

Productions

The company has produced over 110 shows since 2000, including Under African Skies that has performed at over 80 theatres in Belgium, Holland, France and Denmark where it received rave reviews and achieved excellent ticket sales. Barnyard shows have also been staged internationally in the Middle and Far East, including multiple sell-out shows at The First Group Theatre at the five-star Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai. Their productions have also been seen in one of the entertainment hubs of South Africa, Sun City.

Productions over the years have included: