W.F.H. Parker

A puppeteer, magician and impresario from England.

South African Performances by Parker and his company

The Automata or Mr Parker's Theatre of Mechanics

In 1837 he impressed Cape Town audiences with his huge, life-size Automaton figures - his presentations described as "Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre of Arts" (Bosman, 1828: p. 231). It “worked automatically through wires, ropes, steam” or someone inside the huge puppets. It was one of the first recorded puppet displays in Cape Town (a M. Decanis preceded Parker, showing only one Automaton figure in June 1837).

The first performance by the Automata - or as they were billed "Mr Parker's Theatre of Mechanics" was on 5 December 1837 and consisted of Polander , The Enchanted Turk, Children in the Wood (Morton) and Joey Grimaldi's Trip to Brentford (possibly their version of the classic comedy riding act called "Billy Buttons or the Tailors Ride to Brentford")

The company apparently performed daily from November 1837 till January 1838 in a space described as "The Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre of Arts", Long Street (opposite Mr Bam's.

Later he also showed the Automata in The Enchanted Witch, or Mother Shipton, along with scenes from London life, including the Vaux-hall Gardens, the "Ascent of Mr Sadler's Balloon", etc.

Another presentation by the company was The Battle of Navarino, between the British, Dutch and French fleets.

In 1838 the company took their show on the road to Stellenbosch, Worcester, Swellendam, George and Uitenhage, finally ending in Cape Town again.

In 1839 they were in Grahamstown.

Parker as manager

In 1848 Parker is once more in Cape Town with his "Theatre of Mechanics", but appears to also have moved into more formal theatre. In 1847 he leased the newly renovated Drury Lane Theatre for one season as manager, to present the New English Theatrical Company (also referred to as Parker's Company in some sources) in a season of light dramas and operas. In 1850 they performed at the Victoria Theatre (Hope Street Theatre) and the year after they were back at Drury Lane Theatre, after which they seemed to disappear from the scene.

In January 1849 the company received harsh critique from Sam Sly, suggesting that they displayed which caused the company to close down temporarily.

Performaces

The company played on and off in Cape Town from then till 1851, playing in the Drury Lane Theatre and the Hope Street Theatre. They performed inter alia Luke the Labourer (Buckstone), Victorine (Buckstone) , The King's Command (Thompson) and Damp Beds (Parry).

[TH, JH]

Sources

Bosman, 1928;

Du Toit, 1988;

Fletcher, 1994

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_clown

http://www.silentclown.com/history-page.htm

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