Peninsula Dramatic Society

The Peninsula Dramatic Society (PDS) was a theatre group that existed in Cape Town’s District Six area from 1951 to 1964. The group's penchant for the provocative set it apart from contemporary theatre companies. They selected fare that challenged laws by questioning the numerous tenets of Apartheid. Another performance group at that time was the Trafalgar Players.

Among its members were Amelia Pegram, Owen Pegram, Isaac Pfaff, Oscar Pfaff.

Among its productions were The Lower Depths, produced by Albert Thomas at the Woodstock Town Hall, 2 August 1955, Street Scene by Elmer Rice, A Family Man by John Galsworthy (12.12.1951), George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, the two Genet plays The Blacks and The Maids and The Visit in February 1963.

Sources

Material collected by Gladys and Albert Thomas : photocopies of pages from a scrapbook with reviews and programmes for early productions mostly by the Peninsula Dramatic Society, held by NELM: [Collection: FLETCHER, Jill]: 2005. 75. 21. 1.

For more information

House, Melanie. "Their Place on the South African Stage: The Peninsula Dramatic Society and the Trafalgar Players." Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. Ohio State University, 2010. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 17 Mar 2016 [1].

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