H.J. Fiedler
H.J. Fiedler (fl 1880s) was a Cape Town newsagent and one time theatre manager.
See also H.C. Sidney
Contents
Biography
He had what Boonzaier (1923) suggests was the only news agency in Cape Town in the 1880s. Situated in Church Street, Cape Town, it also served as a ticket office for theatre productions in that time.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
In 1885, when Henry Harper had given up the Theatre Royal and H.C. Sidney stepped in to take it over briefly in 1885, Fiedler joined him as his business partner. Inspired by Sutton Vane's rediscovery of the text of The Silver King (Jones and Herman), the Sidney-Fiedler Company put it on in the theatre, providing Sidney with an opportunity to give his best performance ("the apex of his colonial career" as Boonzaier phrases it) as "Wilfred Denver" in Sutton Vane's production of the play.
Sources
D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p. 380.
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