Shirley Wakefield

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Shirley Wakefield (19*-). British-born director, actress.

Biography

Based in London before World War II, she played leads in a number of productions with The English Players in Paris. She arrived in Cape Town in April 1941 where she married her fiancé Mr H. Schneier of Johannesburg.

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

She has appeared on stage in Rebecca (as Mrs de Winter, 1944), The Madwoman of Chaillot 1952.

She replaced Minna Schneier (her sister-in-law) as director of the Reps production of Aldous Huxley’s The Gioconda Smile in 1953 after Schneier had to leave to give birth to her daughter Cara.

She produced The Searching Wind (1945) and performed (as Aunt Alicia) in Gigi for the Johannesburg Repertory Society), 1953.

Sources

The Rand Daily Mail, 29 April, 1941.

Tucker, 1997.

Inskip, 1977. p 118, 120.

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