Difference between revisions of "The Company"

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An alternative, experimental, non-racial theatre company started by Barney [[Simon]] and [[Mannie Manim]] in Johannesburg in 1974.  
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There have been a few theatre companies using ''' [[The Company]]''' as a formal name over the years, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, as part of the [[alternative theatre]] movement of that period in South Africa.
  
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The name was sometimes attached to that of a particular venue (e.g. The [[Space Theatre]], The [[Market Theatre]], the [[Baxter Theatre]], and so on) or it carried an adjectival description (such is the [[PACT Afrikaans Company]], The [[Arena Company]], or the [[Company of Four]] for instance).
  
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== Founding ==
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Among those using the title [[The Company]] as the full name, have been:
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The founding members were Barney Simon (Artistic director), Mannie Manim (Administrative Director), Aletta Bezuidenhout, Vanessa Cooke, Judith Cornell, David Eppel, Leonie Hofmeyer, Janice Honeyman, Danny Keogh, Sue Kriel, Lindsay Reardon and John Oakley-Smith. When they started off they were a company in search of a theatre, with the only criterion for a theatrical space being that it had to be accessible to black audiences. Initially used a variety of venues and also introduced late night theatre to Johannesburg. After a couple of productions at PACT’s  Arena Theatre,  they moved to The Box at the University of the Witwatersrand with Lysistrata, then to The Blue Fox in the Oxford Hotel. Their early productions varied between local and international, and included an innovative Twelfth Night,  May Day Adventure Play and Hello and Goodbye. During this time they also performed at The Village, a shop front in Orange Grove in Johannesburg (Storytime),  The Nunnery at the University of the Witwatersrand (e.g. Fortune and Men’s Eyes, People Too and Madame de Sade) and the Chelsea Hotel (Kennedy’s Children).  Keeping to their core belief that the theatre was for everyone,  The Company took every production to the Transvaal’s black, coloured and Indian areas as well.
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=[[The Company]], Johannesburg (1972-)=
  
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An independent theatre company originally founded in Johannesburg during December 1972 by writer/director [[Barney Simon]] and lighting designer and theatre manager [[Mannie Manim]] to do ''avant garde[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde]'' work.
  
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== Home in the Market ==
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[[Barney Simon]] was the artistic director and [[Mannie Manim]] was the administrative director within the [[Arena Theatre]]. It had a core company of actors – [[Aletta Bezuidenhout]], [[Vanessa Cooke]], [[Leonie Hofmeyr]], [[David Eppel]], [[Judith Cornell]], [[Janice Honeyman]], [[Sue Kiel]], [[Danny Keogh]], [[Lindsay Reardon]] and [[John Oakley-Smith]].
  
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[[The Company]]'s aims were:
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* to perform theatre with and for all South Africans
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* to create and perform indigenous work wherever possible
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* to present current international hits alongside the classics
  
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Finally in 1976 after a long struggle and the submission of a tender, The Company found a ‘home’ in the old Newtown produce market, which was then converted into The Market Theatre, for which they became the resident company (though they had to pay rent to the Market Theatre Foundation for the use of the theatres, just as any other company making use of the facilities had to). The Company’s first Afrikaans play was Pieter-Dirk Uys’s Selle Ou Storie, one that won them the first of many awards. They later became known as the Market Theatre Company when they started traveling abroad. The Company’s first real brush with the censors came in 1976 with their production (directed by Leonard Schach) of Comedians.  (See Schwartz, 1988) The Company: It was formed by Mannie Manim as administrative director and Barney Simon as artistic director within the Arena Theatre. It had a core company of actors – Aletta Bezuidenhout, Vanessa Cooke, Leonie Hofmeyr, David Eppel, Judith Cornell, Janice Honeyman, Sue Kiel, Danny Keogh, Lindsay Reardon and John Oakley-Smith. They performed in various small venues including the Village Theatre, the Blue Fox, the Chelsea Theatre and the PACT Arena. The Market Theatre was born out of this venture. Barney Simon directed Lysistrata for The Company at the Arena in 1974. They put on children’s matinees of Janice Honeyman’s May Day Adventure and late-night entertainment called Hey, Listen at the Arena in 1974. Leonard Schach directed Robert Patrick’s Kennedy’s Children for the Company starring Bess Finney, John Higgins, Erica Rogers, John Rogers and Lynn Hooker at the Chelsea Theatre in 1975. They staged John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes with Bill Flynn, Paul Slabolepszy, Ron Smerczak and Danny Keogh at The Nunnery at Wits University in 1975. The Company was awarded the contract for the premises of the old Indian Fruit Market, the future Market Theatre in April 1975. The official opening of the Market Theatre was on 19 October 1976 with The Company’s production of Peter Weiss’ Marat/Sade aka The Persecution of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. Barney Simon directed this play starring Kenneth Hendel, Wilson Dunster and Sandra Prinsloo. They presented Barney Simon’s revival of People Are Living There with Yvonne Bryceland, Wilson Dunster, Vanessa Cooke and Danny Keogh at the Market Theatre in 1977. They also staged the ME nobody knows, with music by Gary William Friedman and lyrics by Will Holt at The Market in 1977. Benjy Francis directed this show starring Leonie Hofmeyr, Leslie Mongezi, Nomsa Nene, Barrie Shah and Jonathan Taylor. In November 1977 they staged Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular, designed by Anthony Farmer and co-directed by John Hussey and Mannie Manim with Diane Appleby, Graham Armitage, Naomi Buch, Wilson Dunster, Kerry Jordan and Gay Lambert at The Market Theatre. In association with the Academy they staged Murray Schisgal’s Broadway comedy Luv, directed by Barney Simon with Wilson Dunster, Janice Honeyman and James White at Upstairs at the Market in 1977. Mannie Manim staged Larry Gelbart’s Sly Fox for The Company at The Market in 1979. It was directed by Pieter-Dirk Uys and starred Patrick Mynhardt, Graham Armitage and Peter J. Elliott. Ira Levin’s Veronica’s Room was staged by them at The Market in 1979. They staged Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves starring Helen Jessop, Kenneth Baker, Richard Haines and Yvonne Banning and directed by Graham Armitage at The Market in 1979.  Harvey Fierstein’s International Stud, later part of the Torch Song Trilogy performed by The Company in 1984, was staged at The Laager in 1979. Roy Sargeant directed Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg for them at the Market in May 1980. It starred Danny Keogh and Sandy Dacombe. Elsa Joubert’s Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena, directed by Hilary Blecher for The Company with Nomsa Nene was staged at the Market in August 1980. They staged Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce at the Market in 1982. They staged Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail starring Neil McCarthy and directed by Norman Coombes at the Alexander in February 1984. They presented Barney Simon’s Black Dog Inj’emnyama at Upstairs at the Market in 1984 before going to the Edinburgh Festival. In collaboration with Malcolm Purkey’s Junction Avenue Theatre Company they presented Sophiatown starring Minky Schlesinger at Upstairs at the Market in February 1986, the main house, abroad, with many return visits. They presented Barney Simon’s production of The Dybbuk in 1986. Together with Moyra Fine they presented William Nicholson’s Shadowlands at the Market Theatre in 1991 **** (Tucker, 1997) COMPANY, The.  Formed by Barney Simon and Mannie Manim, Johannesburg. (SACD 1974)
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In 1975, they presented ''[[Selle Ou Storie]]'' by [[Pieter-Dirk Uys]] as their first [[Afrikaans]] play at the [[Chelsea Theatre]] in Johannesburg, with [[Christine Basson]], [[Val de Klerk]], [[Danny Keogh]], and directed by [[Pieter-Dirk Uys]]. The production, the first production of the controversial work in the Transvaal, won a number of awards. It was eventually also banned, as had happened in the Cape.
  
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Other productions were ''[[Fortune and Men's Eyes]]'', ''[[The Flat and Sharp Bazaar]]'' and ''[[The Drapes Come]]''.
  
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== The Company after 19** ==
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In 1975, [[The Company]] was awarded the tender to convert the old Johannesburg market building into an arts complex. The new venue was named the [[Market Theatre]] and opened in 1976, with [[The Company]] as its resident producing body. On October 19th 1976 [[The Company]] did the ''[[Marat/Sade]]'' (Weiss), directed by [[Barney Simon]], as opening production in the [[Market Theatre]] main theatre.
  
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They went on under the auspices of the [[Market Theatre]] to present works such as  ''[[Bacchus in die Boland]]'' (1978), ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' (1978), ''[[Charles Dickens]]'' (1981), ''[[And Green And Golden]]'' (1982/83), ''[[Children of a Lesser God]]'' (1983), ''[[This is for Keeps]]'' (1983), ''[[Danny and the Deep Blue Sea]]'' (1986).
  
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For more information, see the '''[[Market Theatre]]'''.
  
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=[[The Company]], Cape Town (1973)=
  
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= See also =
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Founded as a professional company in Cape Town by [[Norman Coates]], [[Alan Johns]] and [[Suzanne Goldberg]] in 1973, the group put on plays in a pub-style intimate 50 seater theatre space under the Rondebosch restaurant ''La Perla''.
  
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See also the [[Market Theatre]]
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Their first production was ''[[Beginnings and Survivors]]'',  followed by a production of Franz Kafka's ''[[The Trial]]'' in June 1973, featuring [[Terry Osler]], [[Suzanne Goldberg]],  [[Charles Whaley]] and [[Aden Love]].
  
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= Return to =
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= Sources =
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[[Percival Tucker|Tucker, Percy]] 1997. ''Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business''. Johannesburg: [[Witwatersrand University Press]]: p. 333.
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Correspondence held by [[NELM]]: [Collection: MANIM, Mannie]: 2010. 38. 9. 2. 50. 2.
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[[Emlyn Williams]] as ''Charles Dickens'' programme notes, 1981.
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[[Ian Gray]] 1973. There's a theatre on the way upstairs. In: ''[[Showbiz South Africa]]''. June, 1973: p.41
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''[[Market Plays]]''. [[Stephen Gray]] (ed.) 1986. [[AD Donker]].
  
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Go to [[South African Theatre/Bibliography]]
  
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= Return to =
  
 
Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Venues|South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc ]]
 
Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Venues|South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc ]]

Latest revision as of 06:22, 5 November 2023

There have been a few theatre companies using The Company as a formal name over the years, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, as part of the alternative theatre movement of that period in South Africa.

The name was sometimes attached to that of a particular venue (e.g. The Space Theatre, The Market Theatre, the Baxter Theatre, and so on) or it carried an adjectival description (such is the PACT Afrikaans Company, The Arena Company, or the Company of Four for instance).

Among those using the title The Company as the full name, have been:

The Company, Johannesburg (1972-)

An independent theatre company originally founded in Johannesburg during December 1972 by writer/director Barney Simon and lighting designer and theatre manager Mannie Manim to do avant garde[1] work.

Barney Simon was the artistic director and Mannie Manim was the administrative director within the Arena Theatre. It had a core company of actors – Aletta Bezuidenhout, Vanessa Cooke, Leonie Hofmeyr, David Eppel, Judith Cornell, Janice Honeyman, Sue Kiel, Danny Keogh, Lindsay Reardon and John Oakley-Smith.

The Company's aims were:

  • to perform theatre with and for all South Africans
  • to create and perform indigenous work wherever possible
  • to present current international hits alongside the classics

In 1975, they presented Selle Ou Storie by Pieter-Dirk Uys as their first Afrikaans play at the Chelsea Theatre in Johannesburg, with Christine Basson, Val de Klerk, Danny Keogh, and directed by Pieter-Dirk Uys. The production, the first production of the controversial work in the Transvaal, won a number of awards. It was eventually also banned, as had happened in the Cape.

Other productions were Fortune and Men's Eyes, The Flat and Sharp Bazaar and The Drapes Come.

In 1975, The Company was awarded the tender to convert the old Johannesburg market building into an arts complex. The new venue was named the Market Theatre and opened in 1976, with The Company as its resident producing body. On October 19th 1976 The Company did the Marat/Sade (Weiss), directed by Barney Simon, as opening production in the Market Theatre main theatre.

They went on under the auspices of the Market Theatre to present works such as Bacchus in die Boland (1978), Long Day's Journey into Night (1978), Charles Dickens (1981), And Green And Golden (1982/83), Children of a Lesser God (1983), This is for Keeps (1983), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (1986).

For more information, see the Market Theatre.

The Company, Cape Town (1973)

Founded as a professional company in Cape Town by Norman Coates, Alan Johns and Suzanne Goldberg in 1973, the group put on plays in a pub-style intimate 50 seater theatre space under the Rondebosch restaurant La Perla.

Their first production was Beginnings and Survivors, followed by a production of Franz Kafka's The Trial in June 1973, featuring Terry Osler, Suzanne Goldberg, Charles Whaley and Aden Love.

Sources

Tucker, Percy 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press: p. 333.

Correspondence held by NELM: [Collection: MANIM, Mannie]: 2010. 38. 9. 2. 50. 2.

Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens programme notes, 1981.

Ian Gray 1973. There's a theatre on the way upstairs. In: Showbiz South Africa. June, 1973: p.41

Market Plays. Stephen Gray (ed.) 1986. AD Donker.

Go to South African Theatre/Bibliography

Return to

Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page

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