Joubert Park
Joubert Park is a park in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
For a time it was home to the Joubert Park Open Air Theatre.
Joubert Park
Joubert Park was established in 1887 at the request of the Diggers’ Committee, Johannesburg’s earliest local government, as a ‘public park or garden to be planted with trees’. Marked Joubert’s Plein on an 1889 stand map, the park was named after General Piet J Joubert, commander-in-chief of the Transvaal military forces. The land was ploughed in 1891 and planted with seeds and seedlings, some of which were donated by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens.
In 1895 some indigenous trees were added to the botanical transplants, followed by a central ornamental fountain with a rockery and water flowers, and in 1898 a conservatory, bought from the Wanderers Club, was added. In 1906, Joubert Park was donated by the government to the Johannesburg Municipality ‘for the purposes of or incidental to the recreation and amusement of the inhabitants’.
Joubert Park is the location of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Joubert Park Open Air Theatre
After closing down his popular variety venue, the Plastic Theatre in Northcliff, Hugo Keleti opened a new Open Air theatre inside Joubert Park circa 1957.
Productions
Productions staged there include:
1958: Variety Under the Stars
1965: Variety Under the Stars
1977: Noddy Goes to Spaceland (Sybil Marks)
1978: The Sleeping Beauty (Theatre Workshop)
Sources
Greyvenstein, Walter 1988. The history and development of children's theatre in English in South Africa. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University.
https://websterboothanneziegler.wordpress.com/tag/garth-meade/
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