Maynardville Open-air Theatre

Maynardville Open-air Theatre is a performance venue situated in Maynardville Park in Wynberg, Cape Town, and has long been devoted theatrical work, including ballet and musical performances, but specifically renowned for the annual productions of Shakespeare.

Also referred to simply as Maynardville.

See also Open-air theatre

The Theatre

The Maynardville Open-air Theatre is situated in Maynardville Park, Wynberg. The spectacular green wooded park has earned it the reputation for is one of the best-loved outdoor theatre venues in the Cape Region. It offers its patrons both a 500m2 wooded park for pre-show picnics and drinks, as well as a unique wooded 720-seater theatre setting. Most famous for the annual Shakespeare-in-the-Park, it has, over the last 50 years attracted an average attendance of 20 000 patrons per year, a strong focus of which is the Schools in the Western Cape. The Shakespeare sees up to 8000 scholars grade 9 to 12 from as far afield as Heidelberg.

The History

The founding of the venue

There is a wide-held belief that this was the brainchild of the two professional actresses Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson, and had been founded in 1953, but as Steven Molteno (2016) points out in his contribution - while they do deserve credit as the tireless administrators and public faces of the theatre, this is actually a false attribution, which stems from the time of the first Shakespeare production and from Helen Robinson's fine book on the theatre (Shakespeare at Maynardville, 2005), a source used by many subsequent works.

In fact the theatre in Maynardville was actually originally conceived and founded in 1950 by several ladies of the Athlone Committee for Nursery School Education, a fundraising institution for charitable causes on the Cape Flats, and opened on the 1st December of that year with a performance of a ballet, Les Sylphides. However, the role played by the Athlone ladies sadly faded into the background during the intensifying politics of the 1970s and under the publicity attained by the superb and popular Shakespeare productions in the venue.

One of the ladies had visited the Regents Park Open Air Theatre in 1948, and had been inspired to create a similar venue in Cape Town that would rival Regents Park. When the ladies of the Athlone Committee noted the 1949 declaration of Maynardville as a park "open to all", they immediately wrote to the City Council, stating their aim of creating an open air theatre in Maynardville. This aspect was important for any activities planned by a mixed-race organisation, and such spaces were soon to be a rarity in Cape Town.

The committee decided to begin the theatre with ballet performances, and thus approached Dulcie Howes, then principal of UCT Ballet School, and the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra and Dr Erik Chisholm (conductor, composer, as well as Dean and Director of the College of Music) to assist. Both agreed to contribute their services without charge. The Athlone Committee then cleared an area of the park with a team of gardeners, and prepared the stage.

Finally, on of 1, 2 and 3 December 1950 the UCT Ballet Company presented first Les Sylphides, produced by Cecily Robinson (after Fokine) followed by Dulcie Howes’s St Valentine’s Night and Les Diversions. From then on the ballet performances at Maynardville Open Air Theatre were to be an ongoing project, with only a break in 1953, and would continue under the auspices of the CAPAB Ballet Company, led by Dulcie Howes, from 1963 onwards.

The early ballet performances – and those in the following years – were an immense success, and drew in people of all backgrounds from throughout Cape Town. The performances funded the Athlone Training College (established under the auspices of Barkly Training College for Nursery Education) in February 1952, among other projects.

Shakespeare in the Park

In 1953, during a break in the ballet performances (which recommenced in 1954) the Chairlady of the Athlone Committee, Mrs Margaret Molteno, approached the two talented and well-known actresses Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson, at their Spotlight Theatre and invited them to start and lead productions of Shakespeare, for the purpose of "keeping our open-air Theatre alive". The two actresses were then shown around the rudimentary theatre and the Maynardville grounds. Although they initially politely declined the invitation, the following year they changed their minds, and agreed to take on the project.

Through her husband Cecilia had contacts in the Cape Town City Council. She and René eventually bullied the councillors into redoing the stage and auditorium for them to mount a production of The Taming of the Shrew. By a happy accident they had met the celebrated English He was a celebrated stage and film actor Leslie French in England (where Cecilia had worked with him in Regent's Park open air theatre) and persuaded him to come to Cape Town to direct and act in the play. Just before he was due to board the mail-boat for Cape Town, Leslie received a telegram from Cecilia and Rene telling him not to come because (for a second time) they had "cold feet". Leslie's response was typical. He sent a cable back: "Buy hot water bottles, I'm coming out".

That first Shakespearean production at Maynardville in 1956 of The Taming of the Shrew ran to packed houses for a month and thus started a legend. After the performances of the first year, the stage was again altered and enlarged, to its current layout. Finally, in February 1958, the theatre officially became a fully permanent institution, by decision of the City Council (Robinson, 2005: p. 22).

In a period when it was not an easy matter, the cast and audiences were always multi racial.

From the very outset there were special concessions for block bookings of school children. Often the play chosen was one of the examination set works. Thanks to the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, hundreds of thousands of Cape school children have experienced their first taste of Shakespeare as it should be; as a live performance on stage. Generations of boys and girls discovered they could understand the Elizabethan language and found that the 400 year old plays could be as fresh and absorbing as any contemporary drama.

CAPAB and Maynardville

In 1975 Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson joined hands with CAPAB to jointly undertake the management of Maynardville for the next five years. Following their retirement from Maynardville, on the occasion of the 25th year of production, Romeo and Juliet, the CAPAB Drama department would keep the flame alive. For a further 17 years they brought guest actors to Maynardville, and together with the core company, mounted a further 18 productions in this time.

The Maynardville Theatre Trust

When the CAPAB became with Artscape and Drama Department closed in the mid 1990's there was still a commitment to ensuring the continuance of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park. The Maynardville Theatre Trust was established with Cecilia Sonnenberg as patron to give guidance and strategic support for Maynardville.

Today the Maynardville Theatre Trust, together with Artscape, continues to carry the banner of Classical Theatre and Dance at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre.

Productions at Maynardville

1956: The Taming of the Shrew with Leslie French

1982: Othello with Robert Stephens

1987: Romeo and Juliet with Embeth Davidtz

The influence of Maynardville

Many people who are now leading lights in SA theatre started out or enhanced their careers in those early productions; Roy Sargeant, Ralph Lawson, Michael McGovern, John Whiteley and Lyn Hooker, to name but a few.

The theatre also lured many overseas actors to Maynardville, some of whom, like Michael Atkinson and Keith Grenville, settled here and have enriched the South African theatre ever since.

Sources

E-mail correspondence from and information supplied by Steven Molteno <steven.molteno@iclei.org>

Percy Tucker, 1997

Helen Robinson. 2005. Shakespeare at Maynardville. Cape Town: Houghton House.

http://www.maynardville.co.za/www/pages/index.php

http://www.maynardville.co.za

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