Camps Bay Operatic and Dramatic Society

The Camps Bay Operatic and Dramatic Society (CODS) is an amateur organisation based in Camps Bay, Cape Town and is now called the Theatre on the Bay and the Masque Players.

The society

Founded circa 1958, the company served Camps Bay

Their venue

The society had initially used the Camps Bay Pavilion as their home base, but this burnt down in 1973. So they took over the Alvin Cinema, which had been created on the site of an old disused power station and tram shed near the Camps Bay beach (originally built between 1899 and 1900). They called their new venue the The Phoenix Theatre .

By 1987 the society had run into difficulties and put the venue up for sale. It was bought by impressario Pieter Toerien in 1988, who turned it into an influential professional theatre venue called the Theatre on the Bay.

Productions

In 1968

Belle of New York

Irma LA Douce

The Boyfriend

Pygmalion

Sources

Fiona Chisholm. 1987. "Will the Phoenix rise again?", Cape Times 18 December, 1987.

Interview with Guy Rogers Senior reporter at The Herald.

https://www.facebook.com/TheatreOnTheBay/posts/the-building-has-undergone-many-transformations-over-the-years-it-was-built-betw/2758509887589048/