Maynardville is the name given to a public park in Wynberg, Cape Town and the popular name used to refer to the famous open-air theatre in the grounds of the park.

The Maynardville Park

The original Maynard's Villa was the home of financier James Maynard from 1836 until his death in 1874. After it was damaged by fire, Maynard’s Villa was rebuilt by Maynard’s nephew, William Farmer. It remained as a family home until Farmer’s daughter, Enid Bernard, died in 1949. It was then sold to the municipality, who demolished the dilapidated house in the 1950s, but preserved the grounds as a public park, with the former swimming pool becoming a pond, and the archery lawn later used to construct the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre.

Today Maynardville Park is managed by the Maynardville Park Action Committee, a public-private partnership between the City of Cape Town and the Wynberg community. It also hosts carnivals, fairs, markets, motor shows, wedding receptions, and religious gatherings.

The Maynardville Open-air Theatre

The Maynardville Open-air Theatre is a theatre venue, situated within the grounds of Maynarville Park in Wynberg, Cape Town, devoted to productions of Shakespeare and ballet. It is most often referred to simply as Maynardville.

Today the spectacular green wooded park has a repution as one of the best-loved outdoor theatre venues in the Cape Region. It offers its patrons both a 500m2 wooded park for pre-show picnics and drinks, as well as a unique wooded 720-seater theatre setting.

Perhaps best known for the annual Shakespeare-in-the-Park (an emphasis encouraged by most publications about the theatre, including the City of Cape Town's website), the tradition of theatrical performances in the Maynardville Park actually began somewhat earlier, with a number of ballet performances that were done there in 1950-1954 while the old manor house was still standing. The first Shakespeare was only done in 1956 and would then become an annual tradition. For a number of years (1958-1974) ballet and Shakespeare were both offered most years, after which only plays were done till 2002, when ballet once more became part of the Maynardville scene. (See list of performances below)

Over the last 65 years the theatre and dance performances have attracted an average attendance of 20 000 patrons per year, with a strong focus on the schools in the Western Cape. The Shakespeare performances for example see up to 8000 scholars (grade 9 to 12) annually, with many coming from as far afield as Heidelberg.

The History

In the mid 1950's, Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson were well-known South African actresses and they conceived the idea that the then little-used park in Wynberg would make an ideal open air theatre. Through her husband Cecilia had contacts in the Cape Town City Council. She and René eventually bullied the councillors into creating a stage and raked auditorium for them to mount a production of The Taming of the Shrew. By a happy accident they had met Leslie French in England (Cecilia had acted with him in Regent's Park) and persuaded him to come to Cape Town to direct and act in the play. He was a celebrated stage and film actor who had started as a boy in the Ben Greet Players and had gone on to star in Lillian Bayliss' Old Vic productions and was famous for his performances in the open air theatre in Regent's Park in London. Just before he was due to board the mail-boat for Cape Town, Leslie received a telegram from Cecelia and Rene telling him not to come because they had "cold feet". Leslie's response was typical. He sent a cable back: "Buy hot water bottles, I'm coming out". That first production at Maynardville in 1956 of The Taming of the Shrew ran to packed houses for a month and thus started a legend.

In a period when it was not easy, the cast and audiences were always multi racial. Many people who are now leading lights in SA theatre started out or enhanced their careers in those early productions; Roy Sargeant, Ralph Lawson, Michael McGovern, John Whiteley and Lyn Hooker, to name but a few. They also lured many overseas actors to Maynardville, some of whom, like Michael Atkinson and Keith Grenville, settled here and have enriched the South African theatre ever since.

From the very outset there were special concessions for block bookings of school children. Often the play chosen was one of the exam set works. Thanks to the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, hundreds of thousands of Cape school children have experienced their first taste of Shakespeare as it should be; as a live performance on stage. Generations of boys and girls discovered they could understand the Elizabethan language and found that the 400 year old plays could be as fresh and absorbing as any contemporary drama.

In 1975 Cecilia and René joined hands with CAPAB in joint management of Maynardville for the next five years. After their retirement from Maynardville, on the occasion of the 25th year of production, Romeo and Juliet, the CAPAB Drama department kept the flame alive. For 17 years they brought guest actors to Maynardville and together with the core company mounted a further 18 productions in this time. When the Drama Department closed in the mid 90's there was still a commitment to ensuring the continuance of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park. The Maynardville Theatre Trust was established with Cecilia Sonnenberg as patron to give guidance and strategic support for Maynardville.

Today the Maynardville Theatre Trust, together with Artscape, continues to carry the banner of Classical Theatre and Dance at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre.

Productions

Here follows a chronology of Maynardville performances. The list for the [period 1950 to 2015 has been compiled by Sheila Chisholm. For information on each individual production (where available), click on the title of the play to go to the entry:

1950 Les Sylphides, St Valentine's Night, Les Diversions (ballet)

1951 Les Sylphides, St Valentine's Night, Amor Eterno (ballet)

1952 Le Lac de Cygnes (2nd Act), Giselle (ballet)

1954 Don Quixote (pas de deux), Carnaval (ballet)

1956 The Taming of the Shrew (play)

1957 A Midsummer Night's Dream (play)

1958 As You Like It (play)

1958 The Firebird, Les Patineurs, Beauty and the Beast (ballet)

1959 The Winter's Tale (play)

1960 The Tempest (play)

1961 The Nutcracker, Blood Wedding (ballet)

1961 Twelfth Night (play)