J. Grennan

Private J. Grennan was a soldier serving with the North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot when the Regiment was posted to the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony between 1860 and 1863, shortly after the Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine (1857-1858). At first, the Regiment was posted to Grahamstown but was later transferred to Keiskama Hoek (Keiskammahoek) in 1862.

J. Grennan was a member of the section of the Dramatic Club known as the Band of Amateurs and acted in nine of their productions, eight of them in female roles and one as a ghost.

Contribution to SA theatre

July 9 & 16, 1860: Played in the Band of Amateurs production of The Corsican Brothers. (Emilie de Lasparre).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 2, Grahamstown, September 15, 1860, page 15.)

July 21, 26 & 27, and August 3, 1860: Acted in the Band of Amateurs production of The Wandering Minstrel. (Julia).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 2, Grahamstown, September 15, 1860, page 16.)

July 30 and August 1, 1860: Starred in the Corps Dramatique (Band of Amateurs) two-act "comediatta" (sic) (probably commedia dell’arte, which, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is an improvised kind of popular comedy in Italian theatres in the 16th – 18th centuries and is based on stock characters.) production of The Review, or The Wags of Windsor. (Phoebe Whithorn).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 2, Grahamstown, September 15, 1860, page 17.)

July 30 and August 1, 1860: Starred in the Band of Amateurs produced farce, The Irish Tutor. (Rosa, Mr Tillwell's niece).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 2, Grahamstown, September 15, 1860, page 17.)

August 20th and 22nd, 1860: Starred in the three-act play produced by the Band of Amateurs, The Iron Chest. (Helen).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 2, Grahamstown, September 15, 1860, page 17.)

September 20, 1860: Acted in the Band of Amateurs production of Time Tries All, (Laura Leeson).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 3, Grahamstown, November 1, 1860, page 30.)

Christmas 1860: Acted in "a grand Balletical (sic) Introduction" entitled The Rivals. (Queen of the Fairies, guardian to Eastawoolly Province).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 4, Christmas Supplement, 1860. Page 51.)

November 4, 1861: Acted in the Amateurs of the Band production of Thomas J. Lynch's two-act drama, The Rose of Ettrick Vale or The Bridal of the Borders. (Laurette, "The Rose of Ettrick Vale").

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 9, November 13, 1861. Page 125.)

September 29, 1862: Acted in an interlude prepared especially for this occasion, Fitzosbert's Dream. (A Ghost).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 14, Keiskama Hoek, December 10, 1862, page 270.)

Sources

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