Difference between revisions of "Cape Performing Arts Board"
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''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' (1993); ''[[Hair]]'' (1993); ''[[Evita]]'' (1994); ''[[Mame]]'' (1994) | ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' (1993); ''[[Hair]]'' (1993); ''[[Evita]]'' (1994); ''[[Mame]]'' (1994) | ||
− | Collaborations with the other Arts Councils ([[PACT]], [[NAPAC]], [[PACOFS]]) also brought several great productions to the [[Nico Malan Theatre Complex]] stages, including: ''[[The Great Waltz]]'' (1987); ''[[ | + | Collaborations with the other Arts Councils ([[PACT]], [[NAPAC]], [[PACOFS]]) also brought several great productions to the [[Nico Malan Theatre Complex]] stages, including: ''[[The Great Waltz]]'' (1987); ''[[Singing in the Rain]]'' (1988); ''[[A Chorus Line]]'' (1992); ''[[Oklahoma!]]'' (1993); ''[[Crazy for You]]'' (1995); ''[[Queen at the Opera]]'' (1995). |
− | They staged ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' in 1989/90. | + | They staged ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' in 1989/90. |
=== CAPAB Opera === | === CAPAB Opera === |
Revision as of 13:21, 28 September 2023
BEING EDITED
The Cape Performing Arts Board (Afrikaans: Kaaplandse Raad vir die Uitvoerende Kunste) was one of the four state-funded performing arts councils instituted in 1963 to replace the old National Theatre Organization (NTO). Best known between 1963 and 1998 by its acronym: CAPAB (KRUIK in Afrikaans).
In 1999, CAPAB was restructured and renamed Artscape, as was the theatre centre they were housed in (the Nico Malan Theatre centre).
For more on the history after 1999, see the entry on Artscape
Contents
History
In 1961, the National Theatre Organisation was disbanded and replaced by four provincial performing arts councils. In Cape Town, the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) was instituted in 1963 with the aim to promote the performing arts in the Cape Province and South Arica. The arts councils received sufficient government subsidies to fund various art forms as well as the operational requirements of the theatre facilities. Staff could be taken into permanent employment.
Initially, productions were staged in theatres rented around Cape Town and in the Cape Province. In 1971, CAPAB opened a new playhouse, the Nico Malan Theatre Complex in Cape Town, with a performance of the ballet Sylvia (after the original opening production, Christine, commissioned from the Afrikaans playwright Bartho Smit, had been banned) followed by Dieter Reible's controversial production of an Afrikaans Othello. The opening of this theatre "for whites only" - despite the protests of artists, critics and many of the population - was to be one of the most troublesome issues for the council over the next twenty years, as it was actively boycotted by the Cape non-white population as well as their supporters. It was belatedly opened for all on 21 February 1975 (the Academy Theatre's Who Saw Him Die), but this had little effect on the boycott, which lasted for many more years.
In 1994, government policy changed dramatically. All performing arts boards were transformed to managers of playhouses and the various arts companies had to become independent. CAPAB Drama staged its last production in May 1997 with a final performance of David Mowat’s The Guise, a play which has as its theme the survival of the theatre.
The new organization, Artscape, was launched on 27 March 1999 to replace CAPAB and the Nico Malan Theatre Complex was renamed the Artscape Theatre Centre.
Structure
Management
Registered as a society not for gain, CAPAB was headed by a policy-making council, chaired by the provincial administrator and with representatives of all interested parties, including the province, the city municipality of Cape Town, the department of national education, the business sector as well as representatives of the various performing art forms. Their function was to provide provide artists and artisans with a secure career option, to develop and promote drama, ballet, music and opera by offering audiences in the province with regular professional productions.
- General directors of CAPAB include: Danie van Eeden, Gé Korsten (1985-1988), George Loopuyt (1988-1997) and Michael Maas.
CAPAB Ballet
The CAPAB Ballet Company was formed in 1964.
Veronica Paeper was Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of CAPAB Ballet from 1990 until it closed. During this time, Paeper wrote a number of original full-length and one-act ballets.
In 1997, CAPAB Ballet closed, becoming Cape Town City Ballet, an independent, nonprofit organisation.
- Productions:
CAPAB Drama
The Artistic Directors of CAPAB Drama included the long-serving Pieter Fourie (dircector of Afrikaans drama), Johan Esterhuizen, Chris Swart, Peter Curtis (director of English drama).
- Productions:
1960s: CAPAB's first productions were Becket (by Anouilh) and Hedda Gabler (by Ibsen, in Afrikaans) in the Hofmeyr Theatre in November 1963. CAPAB's first production of a South African play written in English was The Year of the Locust by James Ambrose Brown (1966).
1970s: With PACT and the Phoenix Players, CAPAB staged Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena and People are Living There (both directed by Fugard and starring Yvonne Bryceland and Glynn Day at the old Hofmeyr Theatre in 1970.
1980s: Dalene Matthee’s Fiela se Kind starring Shaleen Surtie-Richards (1986); Basil Rubin in association with CAPAB staged William Luce’s Zelda at the Adcock-Ingram (August 1987). CAPAB with Volute Productions staged Robert Hewett’s Gulls which Keith Grenville directed (1987).
1990s: Michael Drin’s The Phantom of the Opera (1990).
CAPAB Musicals
Established by George Loopuyt during his time as General Director of CAPAB.
- Productions:
Jesus Christ Superstar (1993); Hair (1993); Evita (1994); Mame (1994)
Collaborations with the other Arts Councils (PACT, NAPAC, PACOFS) also brought several great productions to the Nico Malan Theatre Complex stages, including: The Great Waltz (1987); Singing in the Rain (1988); A Chorus Line (1992); Oklahoma! (1993); Crazy for You (1995); Queen at the Opera (1995).
They staged My Fair Lady in 1989/90.
CAPAB Opera
In 1997, CAPAB Opera closed, becoming Cape Town Opera, an independent, nonprofit organisation.
- Productions:
1960s: CAPAB's first opera, The Bartered Bride by Smetana, was presented on 8 February 1965 in the Alhambra Theatre.
1990s: Jesus Christ Superstar (1996)
CAPAB Theatre Laboratory
Also referred to as the CAPAB Theatre Laboratory or The Lab. Also referred to as the CAPAB Workshop Theatre in some instances.
"One of the prime aims of Theatre Laboratory, presented by CAPAB Drama, is to experiment with different forms of production and staging. It emphasises the actor/spectator relationship. Shedding many of the trappings of conventional theatre, and brings the actor back to basics in order to evaluate his work. The group, founded early in 1971, will present productions in low key ; in direct contrast to, but in association with the high key productions at the Nico Malan Theatre. Acceptance of this theatre (stripped of all that is not essential to it) will, we think, reveal to the actor and the spectator the backbone of the medium and the riches which lie at the nature of the art of acting. We are in too early a state of development of theatre in this country to say how this might develop or in what direction.
- Productions:
The first project from Theatre Laboratory was Orestes by Athol Fugard. This experiment (featuring Yvonne Bryceland, Wilson Dunster and Val Donald) evoked varied and vivid comment from critics and audiences alike. The second project was Strindberg Without Tears." (Programme notes,Strindberg Without Tears)
CAPAB Youth Company
CAPAB also had a very sucessful youth company, founded to do educational work and originally led by Robin Malan, followed over the years by Eileen Thorns and Ivan Abrahams.
Jazzart
- Productions:
Theatres and other facilities
Nico Malan Theatre Centre
The Nico Malan Theatre Centre was opened on 19 May 1971, to be programmed and managed by CAPAB as a production house with four arts companies – orchestra, opera, ballet and drama. It was named after the politician and Administrator of the Cape Province (1960-1970), Johannes Nicholas Malan, better known as Nico Malan.
Covering an area of some 14 000 square meters, the Centre consists of the following performance venues and spaces:
- Opera House (seating 1487)
- Theatre (seating 540)
- Arena Theatre (seating 140, built on the side stage of the Theatre, originally as a space to house the work of CAPAB's experimental company, the Theatre Laboratory.)
- Piazza
- Gardens
- Rehearsal rooms
- Parking
In line with the new South African the political dispensation and the concurrent changes, the complex was renamed the Artscape Theatre Centre in March 2001.
Theatre Production (Wardrobe, Design Workshop)
Through the years, CAPAB developed a team of wardrobe experts consisting of designers, seamstresses, milliners, wig makers and costume artists. CAPAB also had a décor studio located at a separate warehousing facility.
Maynardville Open-air Theatre
From 1963 to 1974, CAPAB Ballet performed several ballets at the Maynardville Open-air Theatre in Wynberg. From 1975, CAPAB co-managed the venue with Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson, assuming full responsibility for the venue and staging Shakespeare plays there from 1980 until CAPAB Drama closed in the mid 1990s.
For more information on the venue and all the productions staged there, see Maynardville.
CAPAB East Cape Region
Port Elizabeth Opera House
CAPAB purchased the Opera House in Port Elizabeth in 1967, and refurbished it for use as a base for their work in the Eastern Cape.
East London Guild Theatre
CAPAB News/KRUIK-Nuus
A bi-monthly newsletter sent to patrons and the media.
Sources
Strindberg Without Tears programme notes
SACD 1973, 1974
Tucker, 1997
Artscape. Facebook. 10 June 2022.
https://capetowncityballet.org.za/about/
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