Vaudeville Theatre

The Vaudeville Theatre refers to two venues:

• a 19th century theatre in Cape Town

• a performance venue in Bloemfontein at the start of the 20th century.

Vaudeville Theatre, Bloemfontien

Mr. Harry Friedman, who was well-known as a promoter of dramatic enterprises, was lessee of The Vaudeville Theatre in Bloemfontein. He was said to have done a great deal to provide the residents with suitable amusements.

Vaudeville Theatre, Cape Town

In 1890, The Bells of Haslemere and In the Ranks were performed in the Vaudeville Theatre by the Chambers Theatrical Company, under the management of Emma Chambers.

In 1891, a scratch company performed a season of plays at the theatre that included The Idler (Chambers), The Silver King (Jones and Herman), Mr Barnes of New York (Gunter/Collier-Edwards) and Forget-me-Not (Merivale and Grove).

In 1892 and 1893, the theatre was leased by the Emilie Bevan Comedy Company. Productions staged by the company include (in the first season) first season consisted of The Old Love and the New (Howard/Albery), The Silver King (Jones and Herman), The English Rose (Sims and Buchanan), Jane (Nicholls and Lestocq), The Bells of Haslemere (Pettitt and Grundy), The Profligate (Pinero), The Lights o' London (Sims), Sweet Lavender (Pinero), Moths (Ouida), The Late Lamented (Bison/Horner), The Magistrate (Pinero), Diplomacy (Sardou/Rowe & Rowe), Held by the Enemy (Gillette), Judah (Jones), In His Power (Quinton), The Colleen Bawn (Boucicault), The Private Secretary (Hawtrey) and Struck Oil (Anon.). The company made a return in April 1893 with a shorter season at the Vaudeville Theatre that included Niobe (Paulton and Paulton), Betsy (Burnand) and The Pink Dominoes (Hennequin and Delacour/Alberry).

In December 1892, Emma Chambers returned to the theatre with The Ticket-of-Leave Man.

In 1895, Een Hulde aan Nederlands Koningin ("A tribute to the Queen of the Netherlands") was performed by the amateur company of Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst in the Vaudeville Hall, Cape Town, on 1 October, 1895, as part of a programme that also included performances of De Minnebrief van Steven (Anon.) and De Gravin de Moranges (Delcourt).

For more information

For more about the theatrical form known as Vaudeville or Vaudeville Theatre, see also the entry on Vaudeville.

Sources

“South African Notes,” p. 10, The Referee, (Sydney, NSW ), Wednesday, March 5, 1902.

The Jews in South Africa, by Gustav Saron and Louis Hotz, "In the Transvaal till 1899," page 158.

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