English Theatricals

The name used for two distinct amateur theatre companies active in Cape Town during the 19th century.

The English Theatricals 1799-1819

The name

In this period it referred to the Garrison amateur theatre group in Cape Town, which performed in the Garrison Theatre and in the African Theatre. After 1819 the garrison group was called the Amateur Company. (Also known as the Garrison Players or Garrison Amateur Company in some publications and theatre bills).

After the founding of the civilian group in 1823, the Garrison Players did not use the name English Theatricals again, rather being referred to simply as the Amateur Company, the or English Amateurs.

The English Theatricals 1823-1826

The name and history

In this period the name was used to indicate the civilian amateurs of Cape Town – largely organised from within the civil service – as opposed to the garrison group called the Amateur Company.

The two English companies apparently competed heavily with one another for audiences, also for use of the African Theatre.

After a few active years, the civilian company dwindled in 1825, though a group called the English Comedy put on shows in 1826. Possibly re-emerged as the later English Theatrical Amateur Company in 1828, and - according to Du Toit (1988), again revived briefly between 1834 and 1838 as the Private Theatre Company.

Some productions

The first production by the new English Theatricals, independent of the garrison amateurs, was in the African Theatre during Race Week 1823, with Colman’s Ways and Means and O’Keefe’s Modern Antiques.

Other productions include:

The Midnight Hour (Mrs Inchbald) and The Wedding Day (Fielding or Mrs Inchbald)on 14 and 21 June 1823 (with The King and the Miller of Mansfield (Dodsley) on the second date)

The Poor Soldier (O'Keeffe) and A Bold Stroke for a Wife (Mrs Centlivre), 16 October 1824.

[TH, JH]

Sources

Bosman,1928: pp

Fletcher, 1994

Du Toit, 1988

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