Leonard Rayne

Leonard Rayne (1869-1925) was a British born actor and manager.

BEING EDITED

Biography

Born William Hannay Watts Cowie in Blyth, Northumberland, on 6 March 1869, he ran away from home with a stock company when still a youth, but soon joined the Sadler's Wells Company in London, where - using the stage name given him by a loving aunt - he largely worked on Shakespeare's plays, developing his resonant voice and stage presence, before making a career for himself in South Africa and exerting a great influence on Shakespearean production, and South African theatre in general, over the 30 year period that he worked and toured in the country.

Rayne was married to actress Amy Grace, and later became the lover and partner of Freda Godfrey. He died in Cape Town on 19 June 1925 and was buried in the Woltemade Cemetry there on 21 June 1925.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Rayne first came to South Africa in 1895, having been invited by W.J. Holloway of the Lyceum Theatre to become the second lead in a company he was taking to Johannesburg, under the auspices of the Ben and Frank Wheeler theatre company. The company also included Gerald Lawrence, Amy Grace, John Nesbitt, William Haviland and Amy Coleridge.

The Holloway Theatre Company opened with Othello in the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg on the 26th December 1895, with Holloway and Coleridge in the leads and Rayne in the role of "Roderigo". This was now followed by "Orsino" in Twelfth Night, "Edmund" in King Lear, "Dogberry" in Much Ado About Nothing, "Gratiano" in The Merchant of Venice and "Sir Peter Teazle" in School for Scandal and Richard II. The company returned to England and Rayne rejoined Sadler's Wells.

In 1898 he and his wife Amy Grace came out once again, this time for a production of East Lynne.

In 1899 he returned to South Africa with a company put together by himself and his friend Alfred Paumier. They took the Opera House in Cape Town where their extensive repertory of plays, included The Count of Monte Cristo?* and what was to become his most memorable role, "Napoleon" in A Royal Divorce.

In 1902-3 he went into partnership with Frank de Jongh to do In the Ranks, My Sweetheart, The Eternal City, Sherlock Holmes, The Liars and Trilby under the auspices of Frederick Mouillot and Frank de Jong at the Opera House, Cape Town and then leased the Port Elizabeth Opera House in 1902 and the Gaiety Theatre in Johannesburg in 1903, for plays such as Rob Roy, Little Lord Fauntleroy (with Freda Godfrey who became his leading lady) and Under Two Flags (opening on 20 June 1903). Other productions included A White Man, Kismet, Hamlet, Richard the Third and so on

He now became an independent producer, one of South Africa's leading actor-managers, affectionately known as "the Guvnor". For many years he ran the Standard Theatre as the home of his company, the Leonard Rayne Company.

1904 April to June he did Human Nature, The Gypsy Earl (Sims), Brown at Brighton (McKay and Stephens), A Life of Pleasure (Pettitt and Harris), and Sunday (Raceward), The African Millionaire (Wallace) in the Opera House, Cape Town. In the second half of the year he did another season in the Opera House, presenting Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare), A Snug Little Kingdom (Anon), The Lady of Lyons (Bulwer-Lytton), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), Called Back (Anon) and The Man in the Iron Mask (Goldberg).

Among his most notable productions were The Prodigal Son (in which he first appeared with the young Freda Godfrey - 1906), The Rosary (19**), A Royal Divorce (19**), A White Man, Kismet***, ****. RAYNE, Leonard. Actor-Manager. The Standard Theatre became the home of his company. His popular leading lady was Freda Godfrey.

RAYNE, Leonard, born as William Hannay Watts Cowie – 6 March 1869 in Blyth, Northumberland. He was buried in Woltemade Cemetry In CT 21 June 1925.

Legacy

Pieter Toerien opened a new auditorium at the Alhambra in 1983 called the Leonard Rayne Theatre.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 420-21;

Margot Bryant 1978. South Africa’s greatest theatrical partnership. (Leonard Rayne & Freda Godfrey). Mafeking Mail, 1(5):6-8. May.

Margot Bryant 1979. Born To Act: The Story of Freda Godfrey. Johannesburg: Ad Donker.

P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica

Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg.

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

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/leonard-born-name-william-hannay-watts-cowie-rayne

https://theatricalia.com/person/gax/arthur-sinbad-pitt

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