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The term Improvised Theatre Space or Improvised Space is generally used in ESAT to refer to any space that has been transformed for the purpose of theatrical and other performed entertainment by the performers themselves.

The term

The notion of an improvised space can also include other related terms, e.g. Improvised Venue, Found Space, and so on - though the latter has a somewhat more specific and different connotation in contemporary theatre - referring to a performance purposely performed in a non-theatrical space. (See for example Street Theatre, Found Space, and so on, in this regard.)

More specifically the broader concept refers to something that lies at the foundation of the notion of theatre and performance across the globe: the spaces selected for the open-air rituals and performances places used by ancient peoples across the globe. These would of course lead on to the evolution of the fixed theatre space we have come to know. It is an aspect that has been seen as fundamental to the evolution of theatrical performance in Africa over the past 6000 years or more.

However, despite the development of the formal or purpose built entertainment facilities we have come to know and accept as normal, there have still been cases where professional actors or amateurs have been confronted by situations where no such facilities existed (more specifically for those engaged in theatrical performance in the European sense). In such cases venues with technical facilities (such as seating, stages, curtains and lighting etc.) had to be found, improvised or imagined for a performance to take place.

Broadly speaking, this has been a fundamental attribute of virtually all travelling theatre over the ages of course, as recorded in the memoirs of numerous itinerant actors for example. Examples over the years included numerous performances on board ship, in the military camps, in rooms and gardens in private homes, including rooms in the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, performances in gardens, stadia, church and community halls and so on.

Another, very specific kind of improvised space is as well as most of the open air rituals and performances by the various peoples across the globe, and most notably the indigenous peoples over the millenia.

See also terms like Improvised Venue, Found Space and Open-air Theatre.

Some specific South African examples

The following short items may serve to illustrate the principle outlined above.

Travelling companies

Charles du Val and the early travelling troupe

In the 19th century, when theatre facilities were unavailable in most rural South African villages, acting companies had to improvise when creating a space for staging their productions. Sound, for example, was non-existant and actors had to use their vocal chords to their utmost ability. Lighting consisted of candles, oil lamps and "lime-lights" but the latter were rare and curtains consisted of a cloth, such as hessian, tied to a piece of wire. Seating relied on what the audience patrons brought with them and consisted on barrels, planks and some chairs. At time the patrons sat on rocks, tree branches or they simply sat on the ground. This lack of facilities was limited only by the patron's imagination. Really adventurous actors sometimes lugged pianos with them, a really heavy task, but there was a wide variety of other musical instruments available as well. Acting was definitely not for the faint of heart.

In his book With a Show Through Southern Africa Charles Du Val explains how he set up an "improvised space" theatre in a "public room" in Middleburg, Cape, on the same day as the performance of Odds and Ends was to be given. The local inhabitants did not think it was possible to set up a theatre in time for the advertised hour for the performance but somehow they managed to haul down the baggage - with all the props and costumes - from the wagons with the help of the local Fingo tribesmen. Seats were brought in from one place, lamps from another, barrels from a third and planks from a fourth, and a platform was built. Six of Kreli's men were roped in to carry the heavy piano for which they were rewarded with as many copious servings of Cape brandy as they wanted.

"Shade of Mendelssohn; there's a chord as a gentle Fingo pushes up the keyboard in his enthusiasm, and strikes about three octaves simultaneously with his siney arm," he wrote.

Eventually the piano reached the "public room" just "as the audience assembled on the steps outside."

Everything was provided and "with the good-natured assistance afforded, the eight o'clock chime of the town clock saw everything complete, the curtain ready to draw up, and 'the show just agoing to commence'."

For more on his adventures in this respect, see the entry on Charles du Val

Military Entertainment

See the entries on various war time entertainment initiatives and troupes in the entry on Military Entertainment, where the whole notion is discussed and many examples discussed, including entertainment of troops and citizens during the various wars, including the Napoleonic Wars, the so-called Border Wars, South African War, 1899-1902, First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War 1939-1945, and the Border War of the 1970s-1980s.

A particularly apt example from this convention in theatre is that of the Major Myles Bourke and the performers of the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit during the Second World War. It is briefly discussed below - a fuller history of the Unit appears in the entry linked above.

South African War, 1899-1902, Entertainment

For a fascinating article about the use of the "Magic Lantern" as a form of entertainment during the South African War 1899-1902, click on this link : https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/anglo-boer-war-sketches-magic-lanterns-and-lanternist

First World War Entertainment

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Second World War Entertainment

The UDF Entertainment Unit

During the Second World War the men and women of the 19th Reserve Motor Transport Company, also known as the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit (or UDF Entertainment Unit), was formed in Pretoria in January 1941.

Major Myles Bourke was in charge of the men while Captain Mrs Sibyl Gaiger looked after the welfare of the girls.

In November 1941, Major Bourke and (then Lieut) Gaiger flew to Cairo to investigate the possibilities of sending South African entertainment units to the Middle East.

All volunteers in the unit had to be able to do at least one thing, whether it was singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, telling jokes or even juggling.. These men and women were tasked with maintaining and boosting the morale of soldiers both in South Africa and “Up North”.

Larry Skikne (Laurence Harvey), Sid James, Leo Quayle, Muff Evans and Gordon Mulholland were some of the personalities who became well-known among the troops.

Before heading “Up North” the unit performed all over South Africa, including many small rural villages.

Their duties took them from the Cape to Cairo and into European countries such as Italy and Austria, then to Greece and Malta in the Mediterranean and Iran, Iraq, Palestine and Syria in the Middle East.

Not only did they entertain South African fighting forces, but very often troops from other nations such as Britain, Poland, Canada, Australian, New Zealand and the United States.

This unit had to be versatile and they were masters of improvising, especially when considers that their stages could be anywhere from the platform at a railway station, in a barn, on improvised platforms in the deserts, at casualty clearing stations close to the front line, hospitals, bombed-out halls, opera houses, streets or on ships on the high seas.

Before they were allowed to set foot on stage, all these men and women had to undergo their basic training and were subjected to the same military discipline as all other soldiers.

They had to learn to march, how to salute, drive three and 10-ton vehicles, how to service them, how to change tyres in case they were ever stuck and how to get them out of mud or soft sand.

While on the long trip northwards on the ships in 1941, just after the disastrous events at Sidi Rezegh when the entire 5th South African Infantry Brigade was lost, with 224 killed, 379 wounded and about 3 000 captured.

The 19th entertained the troops in appalling conditions and improvisation was the name of the game, sometimes on the deck and sometimes in the stuffy holds and decks below. The girls were accommodated in cabins.

When the units arrived at a venue, no matter where it was located, the men were able to erect a stage with curtains, change rooms and all the lighting in the space of two and a half hours.

In the meantime, the girls unpacked and ironed the costumes and laid out all the make-up.

They wore sexy little satin skirts and did some really high-kicking - the men loved them so it was not surprising they were invited to after-show parties every single night.

Some of the troupes the established were known by names such as The Amuseliers, The Bandoliers, The Crazy Gang, The Ballyhoos and The Troopadours.

Particularly trying on these performers was when they entertained soldiers at the hospitals who had been mutilated in action.

Soldiers with no hands could not applaud and it was considered cruel to dance in front of those who had lost their legs.

Yet their job was to cheer them all - the show had to go on and this was sometimes very hard.

The girls were very good with this and sometimes all they had to do was to sit on their beds and chat with them.

The men were instructed to never leave the girls alone and they escorted them wherever they went, whether it was simply to escort them to their tents, when they went shopping or to a party.

The performers always had four or five acts in their heads just in case the show wasn’t going down very well.

If that was the case, they would change the act halfway through, even if this meant dropping their trousers.

The largest show they put on was one to an audience of 30,000 in an old Roman amphitheatre at Leptis Magna (now Khoms) in Lbya, where they were very well received.

The acoustics were so perfect they didn't need a microphone.

Sometimes army headquarters in Cairo would advise them that one or another famous performer would be arriving and they were to be included in the show.

One of these was Josephine Baker, the American-born French dancer, singer and actress, but the South Africans didn’t mind hosting her as she was so professional.

She was given 45 minutes during which she had 12 costume changes.

By the end of the war the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit had performed 54 variety shows in front of eight million soldiers in North Africa and another three million in South Africa.