Louis Burke

Louis Burke (1937-2021) Theatrical producer, actor, choreographer, lighting designer and director.

Biography

Born in Durban. He was Muriel Alexander’s great-nephew. He studied the violin for many years. His mother, Poppins Salomon, danced with Anna Pavlova, and instilled a love of theatre and dance in her son. He worked for two years in an accounting firm, which held him in good stead when he started producing, and keeping to budgets. He acquired his BA at the University of Natal, is a Licentiate of the Trinity College of London, and studied at the Stanislavski Institute.

He was married to Joan Brickhill for 25 years. They founded the successful Brickhill-Burke Company. They also opened the Brickhill-Burke School of Speech and Drama in Durban in 1959.

When they divorced, Burke relocated to New York where he co-produced and directed his first major American production, the Broadway musical Meet Me in St. Louis. This show opened at the Gershwin Theater, and ran for nine months before touring for over two years. It was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical, and Best Choreography for Joan.

Burke taught Master Classes in Shakespeare in New York and Connecticut, and lectured at the University of New Haven, where he directed Rashomon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Babe - the Sheep-pig , Anouilh’s Antigone, T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, My Three Angels, Moliere’s The Miser and The Crucible, and adjudicated various scholarship programmes across the USA. He was invited by the Kennedy Center to adjudicate and lecture to the American Theater College Festival, and worked and advised many new playwrights with their New Works. A member of The American Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, and The League of American Theaters and Producers, he was President of Brickhill-Burke Productions, and Founder and Artistic Director of The Stratford Festival Theater in Connecticut. He moved to Stratford, to concentrate his resources on developing the new Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theater, to become a year round three-theater operation on the banks of the Housatonic River, a cultural center and entertainment destination. He established his company Festival Enterprises to develop a Resort Destination surrounding an International Theater and Film Festival, including new Film, TV and recording studios.

For further information on their joint work, see the entry on the Brickhill-Burke Company.

For Joan Brickhill's biographical and career information, see the individual entry under Joan Brickhill.

Training

He studied Drama at Natal University.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

As actor

As an actor, he made his first stage appearance in Johannesburg in the Johannesburg REPS production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge as Rudolpho (1957).

He appeared as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1964), Valere in The Miser (1964), as the Samurai in Rashomon (1965), Tegeus-Chromis in A Phoenix too Frequent (1968), Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1976).

An accomplished classical actor, some of his many great roles include Shylock, Iago, Cassius, Brutus, Mercutio, Petruchio, Macbeth, and Valere in Moliere's The Miser , Haemon in Antigone. Other productions in which he appeared include Murder in the Cathedral, Therese Raquin, Ardele, Edward II, People at Sea, The Gentle Rain, Arsenic and Old Lace, My Three Angels and A Taste of Honey. Musical theatre credits include Tony in The Boy Friend, Dick Trevor in Lady Be Good, Dream Curly in Oklahoma!, Peachum in The Beggar's Opera and Justice Squeezum in Lock Up Your Daughters.