Dark of the Moon

Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson and William Berney. An immensely popular romantic play with songs. Began in a playwrighting workshop at the University of Iowa in 1942. By 1945 it had tried out in Washington and opened on Broadway. Since then it has covered the world. Paul Newman once acted in it; Peter Brook once directed it. And nearly every college in the world has produced it at least once.

Performance history in South Africa

1954: Presented by the Repertory Theatre Society later known as the Cape Town Repertory Theatre Society, June 1954.

1955: In South Africa Taubie Kushlick had a huge success with this play on behalf of the Witwatersrand University Players, starring Mildred Stein and Philip Birkinshaw.

1964: Presented by the Arts Theatre Club at the Guild Theatre, directed by George Canes.

1965: Louis Burke and Joan Brickhill staged it for PACT in 1965.

1976: Robin Lake staged it at the Little Theatre with students of the University of Cape Town's Speech & Drama Department, with Jonathan Rands and Michelle Fine in the leading roles. Also in the cast were Alan Dickinson, Manfred Rautenbach, Margot de Villiers, Meryl Hendler, Michael Shevelew, Chloe Rothenburg, Allan Goldstein and Melanie Sher.

1986: Presented by the Dramatic Society of East London at the Guild Theatre, directed by George Canes. The cast included Michele Brandenburger, Darryl Nel, Chris Joynt.

Sources

NELM: [Collection: FLETCHER, Jill]: 2005. 75. 19. 61 (1954 production).

Rand Daily Mail, 25 April 1955.

Cape Times (undated)

Cape Argus, 20 March 1976.

Dark of the Moon programme, 1986.

Arts Theatre Club archive held by George Mountjoy.

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