Presidensie-teater

The Presidensie-teater (the Presidency Theatre) was an experimental theatre venue installed in the ball-room of the building known as the Old Presidency in Bloemfontein by PACOFS in the late 1960s.

Background: The government building

The original Presidency had been the residence of the three Presidents of the Republic of the Orange Free State from 1886 until the British occupation of Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900, when the building became as the headquarters of Field-Marshal Lord Roberts during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Originally built on the site of an earlier building, formerly used by the government of the time, it was constructed in 1885, with construction starting on 22 May 1885 with the laying of the the foundation stone. The building was completed in 1886 with President Brand taking up quarters until his death in 1888. Presidents F.W. Reitz (1888–95) and M.T. Steyn (1896-1900) also resided in the building.

After the British captured Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900, the building became known as the Government House and was occupied by Lord Roberts and his officers. Later also by Sir Hamilton J Goold-Adams (1901-1910), then the Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony, a period in which the architect Sir Herbert Baker made some additions to the Presidency and also added the stables to the back of the house.

Over the ensuing years, the Presidency served as a number of purposes, among them as an annexe for Eunice Girls School, the headquarters for the Orange Free State Command, a hostel for Normal College students, offices for Free State Library Services and in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the administrative building for the Performing Arts Council of the Orange Free State (PACOFS). In this period the building hosted an experimental theatre space known as the Presidency Theatre/Presidensie-teater (or Old Presidency Theatre/ Ou Presidensie-teater)

Today, the Old Presidency functions as a museum and cultural center, hosting a range of exhibitions and events that celebrate the history and heritage of the Free State.