Camps Bay Operatic and Dramatic Society
The Camps Bay Operatic and Dramatic Society (CODS) was an amateur organisation based in Camps Bay, Cape Town.
The society
Founded circa 1958, the company served the Camps Bay community.
Their venues
The society had initially used the Camps Bay Pavilion as their home base, but this burnt down in 1973. So they took over the Alvin Cinema, which had been created on the site of an old disused power station and tram shed near the Camps Bay beach (originally built between 1899 and 1900). They called their new venue the Phoenix Theatre.
By 1987 the society had run into difficulties and put the venue up for sale. It was bought by impressario Pieter Toerien in 1988, who turned it into an influential professional theatre venue called the Theatre on the Bay.
For more information, see Theatre on the Bay.
Productions
1980: Alice in Winter Wonderland
1984: Grease, Jack and the Beanstalk
Sources
Fiona Chisholm. 1987. "Will the Phoenix rise again?", Cape Times 18 December, 1987.
Interview with Guy Rogers Senior reporter at The Herald.
Brian Barrow and Yvonne Williams-Short (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987. Cape Town: The Baxter Theatre.
Return to
Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page
