Leonard Rayne

Leonard Rayne (1869-1925) was a British born actor and manager.

Biography

Born William Hannay Watts Cowie in Blyth, Northumberland, on 6 March 1869, he ran away from home with a stock company when still a youth, but soon joined the Sadler's Wells Company in London, where - using the stage name given him by a loving aunt - he largely worked on Shakespeare's plays, developing his resonant voice and stage presence, before making a career for himself in South Africa and exerting a great influence on Shakespearean production, and South African theatre in general, over the 30 year period that he worked and toured in the country.

Rayne was married to actress Amy Grace, and later became the lover and partner of Freda Godfrey. He died in Cape Town on 19 June 1925 and was buried in the Woltemade Cemetry there on 21 June 1925.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

The first years

Rayne first came to South Africa in 1895, having been invited by W.J. Holloway of the Lyceum Theatre to become the second lead in a company he was taking to Johannesburg, under the auspices of the Ben and Frank Wheeler theatre company. The company also included Gerald Lawrence, Amy Grace, John Nesbitt, William Haviland and Amy Coleridge.

The Holloway Theatre Company opened with Othello in the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg on the 26th December 1895, with Holloway and Coleridge in the leads and Rayne in the role of "Roderigo". This was now followed by "Orsino" in Twelfth Night, "Edmund" in King Lear, "Dogberry" in Much Ado About Nothing, "Gratiano" in The Merchant of Venice and "Sir Peter Teazle" in School for Scandal and Richard II. The company returned to England and Rayne rejoined Sadler's Wells for a while.

The actor-manager

In 1897 Rayne returned to launch his career as actor-manager, opening at the Opera House in Cape Town with Master and Man (Pattitt and Sims) in July. From here on, at times in partnership with other managers (e.g. Alfred Paumier, Frederick Mouillot, Frank de Jongh etc.), his touring company would offer a steady stream of productions, many of them standard items in the company's repertoire over the years. Rayne eventually became something of a legend in the country, one of South Africa's leading actor-managers, affectionately known as "the Guvnor". In this capacity he ran the iconic Standard Theatre in Johannesburg for many years as the home base of his company, the Leonard Rayne Company and in latter years his popular leading lady was Freda Godfrey.

The productions

Over the years Rayne would offer a steady stream of productions, many of them often repeated standard items in the Leonard Rayne Company's repertoire. (For details of the productions, see the individual entries)

Productions listed for 1898 included East Lynne (), The Red Lamp (), The Corsican Brothers ().

In 1899 he returned to South Africa with a new company put together by himself and his friend Alfred Paumier. They again took the Opera House in Cape Town where their extensive repertory of plays, included The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas/) and A Royal Divorce () (with Rayne as "Napoleon", his most memorable role).

In 1901 new plays in his repertoire included A Message from Mars (), The Christian () and A Royal Divorce ().

In 1902-3 he went into partnership with Frederick Mouillot and Frank de Jongh to do a season that included In the Ranks, My Sweetheart, The Eternal City, Sherlock Holmes, The Liars and Trilby at the Opera House, Cape Town, the Port Elizabeth Opera House and the Gaiety Theatre in Johannesburg.

1904 April to June he did Human Nature, The Gypsy Earl (Sims), Brown at Brighton (McKay and Stephens), A Life of Pleasure (Pettitt and Harris), and Sunday (Raceward), The African Millionaire (Wallace) in the Opera House, Cape Town. In the second half of the year he did another season in the Opera House, presenting Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare), A Snug Little Kingdom (Anon), The Lady of Lyons (Bulwer-Lytton), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), Called Back (Anon) and The Man in the Iron Mask (Goldberg).

Among his other more notable productions were Rob Roy, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Under Two Flags, A White Man, Kismet, Hamlet, Richard the Third, The Prodigal Son (in which he first appeared with the young Freda Godfrey - 1906), The Rosary (19**), A Royal Divorce (19**).

Legacy

Pieter Toerien opened a new auditorium at the Alhambra in 1983 called the Leonard Rayne Theatre.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 420-21;

Margot Bryant 1978. South Africa’s greatest theatrical partnership. (Leonard Rayne & Freda Godfrey). Mafeking Mail, 1(5):6-8. May.

Margot Bryant 1979. Born To Act: The Story of Freda Godfrey. Johannesburg: Ad Donker.

P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica

Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg.

Percy Tucker. 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/leonard-born-name-william-hannay-watts-cowie-rayne

https://theatricalia.com/person/gax/arthur-sinbad-pitt

Go to the ESAT Bibliography