History

In the mid 1980s, the mansion house, Windybrow and the adjacent hall of the BG Alexander Nursing College were repurposed by PACT and became known as the Windybrow Theatre. Below is information on the mansion house as well as the theatre complex.

Windybrow: The house

Windybrow is the name of a mansion, situated on the corner of 161 Nugget and Pieterson streets, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, originally built in 1896 by Theodore Reunert, an architect and founder of the engineering firm Reunert and Lenz (now part of Barlow Rand). It was designed by William Leck an architect and friend of Reunert. It was called “Windybrow” because Reunert admired the poetry of Robert Southey, whose home in England had that name. When Reunert left the country at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War, it was used as a mess for General Sir John French's troops. Reunert sold the house in 1921. From 1934 to 1945, it was used as a boarding house. The house was subsequently purchased by the Transvaal Provincial Administration in 1945 for one of three nursing residences as part of BG Alexander College of Nursing and later an associated museum (B G Alexander).

It was declared a National Monument in 1975.

Windybrow: The theatre venue

The PACT years: 1986-1994

By 1986, Windybrow had been unoccupied for several years and the government intervened to declare the house a cultural institution. It was restored with the help of sponsorship from Norman Nossel and Adcock-Ingram and, along with the adjoining hall of the BG Alexander Nurses Training College, given to PACT to manage. It became PACT’s Johannesburg headquarters, housing the admin and public relations offices, as well as the English drama company and the experimental Arena Company.

Productions in the Windybrow Theatre

1986: The first play performed there was a piece called Ulovane Jive, workshopped by its cast which included Aletta Bezuidenhout, Nomhle Nkonyeni, Clare Stopford, Nandi Nyembe and Jacqui Singer (1986). This was followed of plays such as Tjaart Potgieter’s production of Mitzi Booysen’s The Time of the Hyena (with Elize Cawood, Pierre Knoesen and Nomhle Nkonyeni), Hello South Africa/Hallo Suid-Africa by Casper de Vries wrote, composed and directed the cabaret Hello South Africa/Hallo Suid-Africa starring himself, Johan Engelbrecht, Elsabé Zietsman, June van Merch and Didi Kriel circa 1986.

Productions in the Adcock-Ingram Auditorium

The old B.G. Alexander Nurses Home hall was converted for PACT by Stan Knight and Andrew Botha. Sponsored by Norman Nossel and Adcock-Ingram, it opened on 7 February 1987 with a production of Euripides’ The Women of Troy which was directed by Dieter Reible. Further productions in the Adcock-Ingram Auditorium include:

1987: Bobby Heaney directed The Maids for PACT here in 1987. Des Lindberg and Dawn Lindberg presented When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, directed by Dawn Lindberg, in July 1987. Basil Rubin in association with CAPAB brought William Luce’s Zelda here in August 1987.

1988: Shirley Firth presented Barry Creyton’s Double Act here in 1988.

1989: Janice Honeyman directed Charles Dickens’ Hard Times for PACT here in 1989. Deon Opperman’s Stille Nag, directed by the author was staged here in 1989. Moira Blumenthal and NAPAC presented William Finn’s March of the Falsettos here in September 1989.

1990: Terrence Shank directed Persona here in May 1990. Deon Opperman’s Dear Mrs Steyn was staged here in October 1990. Leonard Schach presented A Walk in the Woods here in 1990. Ilse van Hemert directed Chekhov’s The Seagull here in 1990.

1991: PACT and Joyce Levinsohn Productions presented Tales of Beatrix Potter and Oliver! here in 1991.

1993: PACT and DALRO presented the Windybrow Arts Festival which featured Jozi Jozi Guide in 1993.

1994: John Matshikiza’s production of Julius Caesar was staged here in 1994.

The independent years: 1994-2013

After 1994, it became an independent cultural institution aimed at the development and promotion of the performing arts though. Initially run by Walter Chakela (1994-2004).

In 2005, the Department of Arts and Culture declared the Windybrow Theatre a cultural institution and the new Windybrow Theatre was officially re-launched on 4 May 2006.

The Windybrow Theatre embarked on a capital works programme in 2010 on both the Heritage House and the Theatre with the purpose of preserving the heritage status of the buildings, renovating and reconfiguring the structures. The implementation of the Windybrow capital works programme subsequently went horribly wrong and ground to a halt with the two main structures in differing, but incomplete conditions which rendered both structures unfit for normal use. This was a very low point for the Windybrow premises.

The Windybrow was subsequently mothballed in 2013 by the Department of Arts and Culture amid allegations of maladministration and corruption, with millions of rand meant for the rehabilitation of the heritage building allegedly vanishing under its previous management.

Handover to the Market Theatre Foundation (2014)

Following the closure of the complex, the Department of Arts and Culture handed its management to The Market Theatre Foundation in March 2014 to run it as one of its business units. One of the Market Theatre Foundation's main tasks was to oversee the assessment of all work done as part of the previous capital works programme, preservation of the Heritage House and the Theatre renovations. They appointed Keituletse Gwangwa as head of the centre.

Following extensive renovations it re-opened in 2017 as the Windybrow Arts Centre.

For more information on the venue post 2017, see Windybrow Arts Centre.

Venues in the Windybrow Theatre Complex

Starting with one experimental space in the late 1980s, the centre has gradually acquired three theatre spaces - The Nadine Gordimer, which accommodates 230 people; The Dalro, which seats 60; and what The Trustbank, with room for 40. There was also a coffee shop, a bar and several rehearsal rooms.

The Dalro

The Windybrow Arts Festival

The Windybrow New Plays Festival

Sources

(Tucker, 1997)

Edward Tsumele. 2018. Restoration project lifts grand old theatre complex in Joburg. Heritage specialists restore and modernise the 120-year-old Windybrow Centre of the Arts. Business Day, 23 January 2018[1]

http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=42190

https://artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=5044

https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/windybrow-context-theodore-reunert-home-windybrow-arts-centre

Tucker, 1997

https://marketartscentre.co.za/about-us/