Theatre Roundabout

Theatre Roundabout was a touring theatre company founded in Durban and active in 1975/1976.

Also found as the Theatre Roundabout Roadshow Company and Roundabout Theatre Company.

(Not to be confused with The Roundabout Theatre Company, a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City founded in 1965 [1].)

The company

The company was founded by Brian Darnley in 1975.

It played in Johannesburg in 1975 and Cape Town in 1976. The intention was to tour the Western Cape with shows ranging from drama to comedy to street theatre – and the very beginnings of industrial theatre. Before anyone had heard the term they took improvised plays into the workplace where audiences were invited to take part to solve problems.

Note: Percy Tucker (1997) associates Shirley Johnston and Henry Goodman with this company, suggesting Goodman founded the company in 1979. However, this may have been be a confusion with the well known Troupe Theatre Company of which Goodman was a founding member in 1979.

Productions

Productions staged by the company include:

1975: The Music Makers, Grinappy, The Great Wopperloop and Zoomerang, presented by The Roundabout Roadshow Company at Box Theatre at Wits University, directed by Brian Darnley.

1976: The Music Makers, Grinappy, The Great Wopperloop and Zoomerang, presented by The Roundabout Roadshow Company at The Space, directed by Brian Darnley.

Sources

Tucker, 1997.

Greyvenstein, Walter 1988. The history and development of children's theatre in English in South Africa. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University.

https://www.silverbirchingtonplays.com/ourauthors

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