Garrison Players

One of the names given to the amateur theatre group that had been formed in the Cape Town Garrison (also known as the Officers of the Garrison, Garrison Amateur Company, the English Theatricals (before 1819), the Gentlemen Amateurs or simply the Amateur Company (after 1819), and for a while Captain Hall's Company (1850-1855).

See also Garrison Theatre

From 1823 onwards they made a point of differentiating them from the local civilian amateurs, who now called themselves the English Theatricals. The two groups apparently competed heavily with one another for audiences, also for use of the African Theatre. The Garrison Players also used a theatre in the barracks, known as the Barracks Theatre or the Garrison Theatre.

They existed in one form or another from the very first occupation of the Cape by the British (1799) to 18** and no doubt exerted a strong influence on the form and nature of theatre and the performing arts in the Cape for more than a century, ultimately helping to shape the growth of an indigenous form of western performance in the country.

Performers

Numerous officers were members of the company, in its various manifestations, over the years. Some of the names prominently mentioned are:

Captain Frazer, Captain Collins, Lieutenant Charles Napier, Mr Hamilton, Mr Strawbenzee,

Performances over the years

Among their productions over the long period were:

In 1811: Lovers' Vows and Raising the Wind (27 July,); The Rivals and The Mock Doctor, or The Dumb Lady Cur'd (17 August); The Honey Moon and High Life Below Stairs (31 August); The Honey Moon and The Review, or The Wags of Windsor (21 September).

In 1812: The Review, or The Wags of Windsor and John Bull, or An Englishman's Fireside (18 January); Speed the Plough and The Irishman in London (6 July); and A Cure for the Heart Ache and The Jew and the Doctor (12 July).

In 1824: Life (Reynolds) and The Irish Tutor (Glengall), performed in the African Theatre (4 September).

In 1825: Exchange no Robbery or The Diamond Ring and The Midnight Hour (8 October); The Review (5 November);

In 1826: The Heir at Law and Love, Law and Physic (16 August );

In 1854: St Cupid (Jerrold), with A Bloomer's Costume (Stirling) and Perfection (2 May);

In 1850: Richelieu, or The Conspiracy and The Original (24 April); Richelieu, or The Conspiracy and My New Wife and My Old Umbrella (8 May); The Lancers , A Lover by Proxy! or My Daughter Sir! and "a repeat of" My Young Wife and My Old Umbrella (29 May); The Rose of Arragon and The Practical Man (31 July); The Rose of Arragon and Shocking Events (9 August); A New Way to Pay Old Debts and The Sentinel (11 September); A New Way to Pay Old Debts and Box and Cox (17 September); Delicate Ground! , The Sentinel , A Lover by Proxy, and Box and Cox (6 September: ).

1851

No performances by a Garrison company are recorded for this year by Bosman[1]], apparently because regiment was tied up with the Border Wars of 1850-1853. However, he suggests that some members may have played for W.F.H. Parker's company in this period.

1852

In this year there is only mention of three benefit performances in aid of "the Widows and Orphans of the unfortunate soldiers who perished in H.M. Steamer Birkenhead", performed in the Garrison Theatre, and featuring Captain Hall as an actor, and Lieutenant Johnson as treasurer. Possibly these were done by Captain Hall's Company, in association with local amateurs. However, the benefit performances apparently made no profit, indeed they only managed to make a loss of £30!

The plays were:

24 March: Othello (Shakespeare) and Charles II (Payne).

13 April: Don Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour (wrongly ascribed to Benjamin Webster) and The Thumping Legacy (ascribed to an "M. Moreton", i.e. Morton)

21 April: "[I]n consequence of repeated applications", a second performance of both Don Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour (now correctly listed as by Webster and Boucicault) and The Thumping Legacy, is done.

1853

14 September: The Illustrious Stranger (Kenney and Milligan), Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes) and Did You Ever Send Your Wife to Camberwell? (Coyne). A second production planned for 19 October, but the illness of Captain Fisher prevented it.

31 October: Power and Principle (Barnett, a version of Kabale und Liebe by Schiller), Circumstantial Evidence (Carew) and Box and Cox (Morton). Apparently neither Captain Hall nor Captain Fisher was not involved in this particular production - possibly owing to the Border Wars at the time, , and it showed in the production according to a review.

7 November: Repetition of the previous production, by popular demand.

1854

2 May: St Cupid (Jerrold; the original 5 act play shortened to 3 acts by the company, apparently "to bring it within the resources of the establishment"[2]), A Bloomer's Costume (Stirling) and Perfection (Bayley).

5 June: The Rent Day (Jerrold), The Spitalfields Weaver (Bayley) and The Queen's Horse (Honan and Planché).

18 August: The Two Bonnycastles (Morton) and The Honeymoon (Tobin), repeated on 4 September:

18 September: Honesty is the Best Policy (Lemon), The Spitalfields Weaver (Bayley) and Middle Temple (Peake). The performance as a benefit for Mr Kirton.

1855

For much of this year, it appears that the company members, including Capotain Hall himself, helped out with professional productions in Cape Town by visiting companies and performers (e.g. G.V. Brooke and James Lycett). Only late in the year we hear of the 73rd regiment again, but thereafter no more of Captain Hall.

28 September: Grace Huntley, or The Follies of Youth (Holl) ; Comfortable Lodgings, or Paris in 1750 (Peake) and a new "Grand Ballet" - the performances done "for the benefit of the Patriotic Fund" (Bosman, 1928[3]: p. 412)

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928[4]

Fletcher, 1994

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