Johannesburg Repertory Society (or Johannesburg Reps) was one of a number of important and influential amateur dramatic societies in South Africa during the 20th century.

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History

The Johannesburg Repertory Playreading Society, 1927-1928

This was a society founded by Muriel Alexander and 15 of the students from her Alexander School of Drama and Elocution on 15 November 1927, with the intention to perform serious theatre not then available from the existing commercial groups.

The Society did a public play reading of Holding Aloof by David Dainow in 1927, before it took on the role of a full on dramatic society and was renamed the Johannesburg Repertory Society in 1928.

The Johannesburg Repertory Society, 1928-1969

Its first productions under the new name was the brothers Çapek’s R.U.R. ("Rossum’s Universal Robots") and a modern dress The Merchant of Venice at the Standard Theatre in 1928, and by 1930 they were staging six productions a year. During the first ten years of its existence a total of sixty-six productions were mounted. The productions were of such outstanding quality that in 1932 the REPS were contracted by the commercial company African Consolidated Theatres to stage a production of Dangerous Corner for them. In 1933 they were again contracted by African Consolidated Theatres (now simply known as African Theatres) to stage Shaw’s Arms and the Man.

During the 1940s, the company had to restrict its membership to 1400 members, which was the seating capacity of the Standard Theatre, but were so popular that a waiting-list had to be established. The opening of the Reps Theatre (Johannesburg Repertory Theatre) in 1951 allowed the membership to expand to around 4000 members (by 1955) and the REPS finally became a fully professional company, with Anthony Farmer as resident director and director of the company from 1954. When he left, he was briefly replaced (for one production) by Anthony Cullen before set designer Roy Cooke took over the running of the theatre. They would hire directors per play until Hugh Goldie from England joined the company as resident director in 1959.

From 1933 until 1965, the REPS also published their own bimonthly magazine, Playtime.

Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, with Margaret Inglis, Bernard Brown, Jenny Gratus and Gordon Mulholland was the final production for the Reps at the Alexander in 1969.

The Repertory Amateur Players Society (RAPS), 1949-?

Amateur productions were also continued through the REPS Associate Players, which had been originally established in 1949 to cater for younger members. The Associate Players later changed its name to the Repertory Amateur Player Section, and eventually became a completely independent organisation, the Repertory Amateur Players Society (RAPS).

For more information, see Repertory Amateur Players Society.

Directors

Aside from Alexander’s professional experience, the REPS also employed many other professional directors, including Joan Heymann, Gwen ffrangçon-Davies, Marda Vanne, Nan Munro, Margaret Inglis and André Huguenet.

Venues

Initially they used the badly-equipped Jewish Guild Hall as a venue, but from 1936 they used the Little Theatre (or Library Theatre) in the new Johannesburg Library-Complex. In 1941, the REPS were invited by African Theatres to perform in the prestigious Standard Theatre, then the best venue in Johannesburg.

After the war ended, the REPS once again had to oscillate between the Standard and Little Theatre. However, plans to acquire an own, permanent venue came to fruition with the opening of the Reps Theatre (Johannesburg Repertory Theatre) in 1951 (it was renamed the Alexander Theatre in 1960). PACT took on the lease of the Alexander long-term in 1972. The Alexander Theatre was sold to PACT in 1978(???**).

Productions

1928: R.U.R., The Merchant of Venice

1932: Dangerous Corner

1933: Arms and the Man

1939: The Millionairess, Fumed Oak, The Importance of Being Earnest

1940: The Millionairess, Fumed Oak, Of Mice and Men, The Importance of Being Earnest, Thunder Rock, Twelfth Night, Of Mice and Men

1941: The Man Who Came to Dinner, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Double Door

1942: The Late Chrisptopher Bean, The Women, Amphitryon 38, Anna Christie

1943: The Light of Heart, The Flashing Stream, Stage Door

1944: The Doctor's Dilemma, The Rivals, Granite, Life with Father, Rebecca

1945: Bitter Aloes, Miranda, The Seagull by Chekhov. Performed in 1945 starring Taubie Kushlick. Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Performed in 1945 starring Enid Grunewald.

1946: The Circle by Somerset Maugham. Performed in 1946. Tonight at 8.30 by Noël Coward. Performed in 1946. Play with Fire was performed in 1946 and starred Michael Venables.

1947: Siegfried Mynhardt directed Laura for the REPS at The Standard in 1947. George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession, directed by Leontine Sagan, and starring Lydia Lindeque was performed in 1947. Gay Gibson Starred in The Silver Cord for the REPS in 1947. Muriel Alexander directed Joan of Lorraine, her last play for the REPS in 1947 at the Wits University Great Hall.

1948: The Taming of the Shrew, The Witch, starring Berdine Grunewald, Johann Nell, Sam Moss and Doreen Mantle, who later became chairman of the Reps, was performed in 1948.

1949: Romeo and Juliet, The Reps celebrated its twenty-first year of existance with a production of Romeo and Juliet in the Wits University Great Hall and Pretoria Opera House in 1949. It was directed by André van Gyseghem, and starred Leon Gluckman, Eugenie Heyns, Muriel Alexander and Herbert Kretzmer. Sets by Len Grosset and costumes by Louis Jacobson impressed.

1950: They offered their usual half-dozen plays during 1950 including T.S. Eliot’s Sweeney Agonistes and Oscar Wilde’s Salome, both directed by Taubie Kushlick. The latter starred Sheila Osrin.

1951: Much Ado About Nothing, The new Reps Theatre opened on the seventh November 1951 in Stiemens Street, Braamfontein. It was an intimate 510 seater designed by Manfred Hermer. Percy Baneshik wrote an ode to the Reps, which was read by Muriel Alexander before the curtains raised on the inaugural production, Much Ado About Nothing. It was directed by Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies and starred Margaret Inglis and Jack Ralphs.

1952: The Madwoman of Chaillot, The House of Bernarda Alba, Leonard Schach directed Lorca’s Spanish drama The House of Bernarda Alba for the Reps in September 1952. The cast included Muriel Alexander, Molly Seftel and Mary Mitchell. The Reps got Leonard Schach to direct The Madwoman of Chaillot starring Haidee Cassell in 1952 to celebrate the first birthday of their theatre. Leon Gluckman directed André Huguenet in Molière’s Tartuffe for the Reps in 1952.

1953: The Old Ladies, They started their 1953 season with a revival of Rodney Ackland’s The Old Ladies, directed by Minna Schneier. She returned to the Reps rehearsal room to direct Aldous Huxley’s The Gioconda Smile, but was replaced by Shirley Wakefield when she left to give birth to her daughter Cara. Leonard Schach returned to Johannesburg to direct the Reps production of The Young Elizabeth, based on the life of Elizabeth I to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II later that same year. The cast included the aspiring writer Theo Aronson. Minna Millsten directed the Reps production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives in 1953, starring Marjorie Gordon. They celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary with a production of Colette’s Gigi in 1953, starring Tessa Laubscher.

1954: Anthony Farmer took up his full-time position at the Reps in February of 1954. He directed and designed the set for Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution. The set was a replica of the Old Bailey. Robert Griffiths and Sadie Festenstein played in this sell out show. The National Theatre staged a celebrity concert in aid of the National Theatre Development Fund at the Reps in 1954. The line-up included André Huguenet, Dawie Couzyn, Margaret Inglis and Taubie Kushlick, and came through the offices of Breytenbach. They turned fully professional in 1954 with Anthony Farmer in charge.

1955: The Company of Three’s first production was Third Person and was staged at the Reps in 1955. Farmer brought out English actor John Boulter for the British comedy My Three Angels which was staged at the Reps in 1955. Anthony Farmer secured all the rights for Agatha Christie’s plays and directed Spider's Web which starred Yolande Turnbill for the Reps in 1955. Anthony Farmer staged Bus Stop at the Reps in 1955, starring Brian Bell. Bill Brewer made his first appearance for the Reps in Dear Charles in 1955. Edna Jacobson played the lead in Rose Without a Thorn for the Reps in 1955. The National Theatre took the Reps for their production of Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy starring Brian Proudfoot and Clifford Williams in 1955. Anthony Farmer did a production of Larger than Life for the Reps in 1955. It was based on the novel Theatre by Somerset Maugham, and dramatised by the author with Guy Bolton, starring British star Jessie Matthews.

1956: The Tempest, The Confidential Clerk, Anthony Farmer directed the thriller, Dead on Nine for the Reps in March 1956, and followed this with The Remarkable Mr Pennypacker. He then left for England, cutting short his contract with the Reps, and was replaced by Anthony Cullen, who only lasted for one production (of T.S. Eliot’s The Confidential Clerk) before set designer Roy Cooke took over the running of the theatre. They would hire directors per play until Hugh Goldie from England joined the company as resident director in 1959. The English actor-director Leslie French came to direct The Tempest for the Reps in 1956, starring David Crichton. The Reps did Terence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince, directed by Minna Schneier with Moira Lister and Joss Ackland for their Festival production in 1956.

1957: A View from the Bridge, The Diary of Anne Frank, The House by the Lake, The Queen and the Rebels, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Peter Pan

1958: Career, Thieves' Carnival, Romanoff and Juliet

1959: Hot Summer Night, Affairs of State, Under Milkwood, The Glass Slipper (in conjunction with Children’s Theatre and the National Theatre Organisation)

1960: Caesar and Cleopatra, The Sound of Murder

1961: Time to Kill

1962: Burning Bright, The Andersonville Trial, Boeing-Boeing, Guilty Party, The Mousetrap, Come Blow Your Horn

1963: Oklahoma!, Ricky Arden staged Policy for Murder, The Physicists

1964: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

1965: Pickwick, The Deputy (also known as The Representative)

1966: Twelve Angry Men, Trap For a Lonely Man, The Constant Wife

1967: Forever April, Hostile Witness, Seidman and Son, A Day in the Life Of ...

1968: A Flea in Her Ear, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (with PACT), Fanny

1969: Androcles and the Lion, Red Peppers, Present Laughter.