Haupt's Theatre

Haupt's Theatre was a theatre venue in Cape Town in 1849-50.

Also known as Haupt's Warehouse or Haupt's Store in some sources.

One of two theatres in Hope Street in the 1840s-1850s, this was a makeshift venue set up by the wine merchant P.J. Haupt in his wine warehouse at 21 Hope Street, Cape Town, and was advertised for use as a theatre from 1845 till 1850, and a number of unadvertised plays were produced there in these years. (The other venue was the Liefhebbery Tooneel).

In 1849 James Lycett leased the space and fixed up and refurbished the upper story of the wine store as a theatre. The interior was apparently modelled on the Roeland Street Theatre and divided lengthwise with a wooden partition into a promenade on the one side and an auditorium on the other. There was also a gallery at the street end. Lycett's company performed The Bottle (based on Cruikshanks’s cartoon) in this theatre.

In 1850 Haupt placed another advert, stating that "The Theatre and Theatricals were again offered to let, with immediate possession". After this nothing more was heard of it.

[TH, JH]

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp.482-4, 502

P.W. Laidler. 1926. The Annals of the Cape Stage. Edinburgh: William Bryce.

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