Brittain Booth

Brittain Booth (fl. 1880-1890s) was a British actor.

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

Booth arrived in Cape Town from England on 24 August, 1882 with The Mabel Hayes Company, and performed there for them in a long season at the Theatre Royal in Burg Street, Cape Town, lasting till July 1883, before the core company left Cape Town for Port Elizabeth. He is described by D.C. Boonzaier (1923) as being "an actor of the old school, safe in everything he did, but - always unmistakably Brittain Booth!"

He thereafter made Cape Town his home, finding work with various companies performing in the city over the years. For example, in 1887 he was a member of the cast of The Harbour Lights (Sims and Pettitt) when performed at the Theatre Royal, by a company under the management of the Wheeler Brothers, and in 1891 he appeared in an ill-fated production of The Idler (Chambers).

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, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 375, 384, 391

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