Marda Vanne - Revision history

Darryl: /* Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1941 */

2026-04-26T15:33:39Z

Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1941

Darryl: /* Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1941 */

2026-04-26T15:33:20Z

Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1941

Darryl: /* Sources */

2026-04-26T15:32:49Z

Sources

Darryl: /* Her career and contribution to South African Theatre */

2026-04-26T15:32:27Z

Her career and contribution to South African Theatre

Darryl: /* Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1946 */

2026-04-26T15:22:35Z

Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1946

Darryl: /* Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1946 */

2026-04-26T15:22:13Z

Third phase: South Africa, 1940-1946

Darryl at 10:51, 25 January 2024

2024-01-25T10:51:02Z

Darryl: /* First phase: South Africa, 1914-1918 */

2024-01-23T15:50:45Z

First phase: South Africa, 1914-1918

Darryl at 15:50, 23 January 2024

2024-01-23T15:50:17Z

Darryl at 15:46, 23 January 2024

2024-01-23T15:46:52Z

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 === Third phase:  South Africa, 1940-1941 ===
-She returned to South Africa in 1940 and with [[Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies]] (under the banner [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]]?), they staged   ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', with the Afrikaans actress [[Lydia Lyndeque]] (then married to the poet [[Uys Krige]]) playing Viola.
+She returned to South Africa in 1940 and with [[Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies]] (under the banner [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]]?), they staged   ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', with the Afrikaans actress [[Lydia Lindeque]] (then married to the poet [[Uys Krige]]) playing Viola.
 The success of the initial production led to the formation of a company, [[The Good Companions]], seventeen actors in all (not counting six support staff), who toured the Union first with ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' and ''[[Quality Street]]'', doing one-night stands in small towns. [[Marda Vanne]] financed the venture herself. They travelled mostly by rail, and hired venues where possible from [[African Consolidated Theatres]], whose cinemas played promotional slides in advance of the company's arrival. This alliance with cinema mogul [[I.W. Schlesinger]] was an important factor in resuscitating live theatre. Local repertory companies also helped them, and the company made a special effort to take theatre to (largely white) schoolchildren. They were a cosmopolitan group: four Afrikaners, an Irishman, a North Countryman, a Levantine, a few English-speaking South Africans, a Southern Englishman, a Welshman and two Zulus. The latter were two brothers, [[Zac Maccabeus]] and [[James Maccabeus]]. James had acted with [[André Huguenet]]'s companies; Zac simply arrived one morning at rehearsal in Pretoria and told the company he was joining. Among the women was a young [[René Ahrenson]], who was later to have a major impact on Shakespeare's fortunes in Cape Town.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 === Third phase:  South Africa, 1940-1941 ===
-She returned to South Africa in 1940 and with [[Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies]] (under the banner [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]]?), they staged   ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', with the Afrikaans actress [[Lydia Lyndeque]] (then married to the poet [[Uys Krige]] playing Viola.
+She returned to South Africa in 1940 and with [[Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies]] (under the banner [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]]?), they staged   ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', with the Afrikaans actress [[Lydia Lyndeque]] (then married to the poet [[Uys Krige]]) playing Viola.
 The success of the initial production led to the formation of a company, [[The Good Companions]], seventeen actors in all (not counting six support staff), who toured the Union first with ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' and ''[[Quality Street]]'', doing one-night stands in small towns. [[Marda Vanne]] financed the venture herself. They travelled mostly by rail, and hired venues where possible from [[African Consolidated Theatres]], whose cinemas played promotional slides in advance of the company's arrival. This alliance with cinema mogul [[I.W. Schlesinger]] was an important factor in resuscitating live theatre. Local repertory companies also helped them, and the company made a special effort to take theatre to (largely white) schoolchildren. They were a cosmopolitan group: four Afrikaners, an Irishman, a North Countryman, a Levantine, a few English-speaking South Africans, a Southern Englishman, a Welshman and two Zulus. The latter were two brothers, [[Zac Maccabeus]] and [[James Maccabeus]]. James had acted with [[André Huguenet]]'s companies; Zac simply arrived one morning at rehearsal in Pretoria and told the company he was joining. Among the women was a young [[René Ahrenson]], who was later to have a major impact on Shakespeare's fortunes in Cape Town.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:32, 26 April 2026
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	http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0889219/		http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0889219/
		+
		+	https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Criticism/shakespearein/sa3/index.html

	Go to the [[ESAT Bibliography]]		Go to the [[ESAT Bibliography]]

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ''(For more on her work in England, including her stage, film and TV profile, see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0889219/).''
-=== Third phase:  South Africa, 1940-1946 ===
+=== Third phase:  South Africa, 1940-1941 ===
-She returned to South Africa in 1940 and became a director of the resuscitated [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]].  In 1942 she and [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies]] formed the  [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies / Marda Vanne Company]], which presented seasons of plays at the [[Standard Theatre]] and toured extensively in South Africa with classical and modern plays during the during the war years.
+She returned to South Africa in 1940 and with [[Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies]] (under the banner [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]]?), they staged   ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', with the Afrikaans actress [[Lydia Lyndeque]] (then married to the poet [[Uys Krige]] playing Viola.
 Among her more celebrated South African productions as director/producer and actress are ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]'' (1943), ''[[Flare Path]]'' (1943), ''[[What Every Woman Knows]]'' (1943),  ''[[Blithe Spirit]]'' (1944), ''[[Milestones]]'' (Bennett and Knoblock, 1944), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), ''[[A Month in the Country]]'' (1946), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), which was their last production before she went back to England with [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies]].
-=== Fourth phase: England and South Africa, 1946-1970 ===
+=== Fifth phase: England and South Africa, 1946-1970 ===
 In this period she still did the occasional theatrical work in London, her final appearance being in [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]]'s ''[[Man and Superman]]'' (1965), but most of her theatrical work was done in South Africa, while her London career seems to have been more in television work and the occasional film .

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 She returned to South Africa in 1940 and became a director of the resuscitated [[Pretoria Repertory Theatre]].  In 1942 she and [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies]] formed the  [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies / Marda Vanne Company]], which presented seasons of plays at the [[Standard Theatre]] and toured extensively in South Africa with classical and modern plays during the during the war years.
-Among her more celebrated South African productions as director/producer and actress are ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]'' (1943), ''[[Flare Path]]'' (1943), ''[[What Every Woman Knows]]'' (194*),  ''[[Blithe Spirit]]'' (1944), ''[[Milestones]]'' (Bennett and Knoblock, 1944), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), ''[[A Month in the Country]]'' (1946), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), which was their last production before she went back to England with [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies]].
+Among her more celebrated South African productions as director/producer and actress are ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]'' (1943), ''[[Flare Path]]'' (1943), ''[[What Every Woman Knows]]'' (1943),  ''[[Blithe Spirit]]'' (1944), ''[[Milestones]]'' (Bennett and Knoblock, 1944), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), ''[[A Month in the Country]]'' (1946), ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' (1946), which was their last production before she went back to England with [[Gwen ffrangçon-Davies]].
 === Fourth phase: England and South Africa, 1946-1970 ===

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 (1896-1970) Stage name for [[Margaretha van Hulsteyn]].  Actress and director. Nicknamed "Scrappy".
-Her name also spelled [[Margueretha van Hulsteyn]] or [[Martha van Hulsteyn]] by some sources.
+Her name also spelled [[Margueretha van Hulsteyn]], [[Margaret van Hulsteyn]] or [[Martha van Hulsteyn]] by some sources.
 == Biography ==

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 === First phase:  South Africa, 1914-1918 ===
-She fell in love with theatre as a young girl, and in spite of the opposition of her parents, became an actress, originally  performing under her childhood nickname of [[Scrappy van Hulsteyn]] for [[Stephen Black]]'s company, and making a name for herself in [[Love and the Hyphen]]. In the latter years of the war, she joined [[Leonard Rayne]]'s company for a while, performing under her baptismal name of [[Margaretha van Hulsteyn]]). She appeared in a number of plays for the [[Leonard Rayne]] company, including, ''[[A White Man]]'', ''[[Kismet]]'', ''[[A Royal Divorce]]'', ending with two more [[Stephen Black]] plays(''[[Helena's Hope, Ltd]]'' and ''[[Van Kalabas Does His Bit]]'') in February 1917, and finally an acclaimed major role in ''[[Milestones]]'' in July 1917 at the Cape Town [[Opera House]].
+She fell in love with theatre as a young girl, and in spite of the opposition of her parents, became an actress, originally  performing under her childhood nickname of [[Scrappy van Hulsteyn]] for [[Stephen Black]]'s company, and making a name for herself in [[Love and the Hyphen]]. In the latter years of the war, she joined [[Leonard Rayne]]'s company for a while, performing under her baptismal name of [[Margaretha van Hulsteyn]]). She appeared in a number of plays for the [[Leonard Rayne]] company, including, ''[[A White Man]]'', ''[[Kismet]]'', ''[[A Royal Divorce]]'', ending with two more [[Stephen Black]] plays (''[[Helena's Hope, Ltd]]'' and ''[[Van Kalabas Does His Bit]]'') in February 1917, and finally an acclaimed major role in ''[[Milestones]]'' in July 1917 at the Cape Town [[Opera House]].
 === Second phase: England, 1919-1939 ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:46, 23 January 2024
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	(1896-1970) Stage name for [[Margaretha van Hulsteyn]]. Actress and director. Nicknamed "Scrappy".		(1896-1970) Stage name for [[Margaretha van Hulsteyn]]. Actress and director. Nicknamed "Scrappy".
		+
		+
		+
		+	(1897-1970) South African born actress and director. (Her name also spelled [[Margueretha van Hulsteyn]] or [[Martha van Hulsteyn]] by some sources.)
		+
		+	In the war period (1914-1818) she originally performed for [[Stephen Black]] under her nickname of [[Scrappy van Hulsteyn]], then briefly for [[Leonard Rayne]] under this name (1914-1818), but whne she reached England in 1919, she adopted the stage name of [[Marda Vanne]] which she used for the rest of her career, though best known to friends as "Scrappy".
		+
		+	'''See the entry under [[Marda Vanne]]'''
		+
		+