Shirley Firth

Shirley Firth (b. Boksburg, 03/03/1934 - d. Johannesburg, **/11/2019) was an actress and producer.

Biography

She was born in Johannesburg on 3 March 1934.

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

As actress

As an actress she appeared in I Capture the Castle (YMCA Theatre, 1955), The Women (Kushlick-Gluckman, 1961), Guilty Party (Johannesburg Repertory Society, 1962), Boeing-Boeing (Johannesburg Repertory Society, 1962), Dear Me, The Sky is Falling (Alexander Theatre, 1963), Pyjama Tops (Brian Brooke Company, 1963), Mary, Mary (Brooke Theatre, 1963/1964?), The Miser (PACT, 1964), Busybody (Alexander Theatre, 1965), The Little Hut (Stage Company, 1966), The Beaux' Stratagem (PACT, 1966), True Hearts Are More Than Coronets (Stage Company, 1966), The Secretary Bird (Toerien-Rubin-Firth, 1969 - the last time in a play for which she was also the management). Other productions (dates unknown) include Everything in the Garden (Playhouse Theatre, Johannebsurg).

As manager/producer

The Stage Company (1966-1968)

Towards the end of 1966 she ventured into management, joining forces with actor-director Angus Neill, calling themselves The Stage Company. They took a long lease on the Intimate Theatre and the Stage Company did only three productions in two years: The Little Hut, The Creeper and their final production Caste, renamed True Hearts Are More Than Coronets.

For more information, see Stage Company.

Toerien-Rubin-Firth (1969-1970)

Shirley held onto the lease of the Intimate Theatre and this led to her association with Pieter Toerien and Basil Rubin. Together with Toerien and Rubin she stepped forward as new management of the Intimate in 1969. The first of their few co-productions was The Secretary Bird which was directed by Kerry Jordan and starred Jeremy Hawk, Shelagh Holliday, Ivan Berold and Firth herself. They also presented Sleuth (1970).

For more information, see Toerien-Rubin-Firth.

The Toerien-Firth Company (1971-1982)

Firth worked in partnership with Pieter Toerien from 1971 - 1982. The Toerien-Firth Company presented many productions, starting with Who Killed Santa Claus? in 1971. Their last joint production at the Intimate Theatre was in 1982, namely the Baxter Theatre production of Robert Kirby’s It's a Boy!.

For more information, see Toerien-Firth Company.

As an independent producer

Firth produced Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs directed by Louis Burke at the André Huguenet Theatre in February 1986.

She returned briefly to the management scene when she presented Barry Creyton’s Double Act at the Windybrow Theatre in 1988.

As writer

Shirley did freelance writing on various topics for, inter alia, Business Day in the 1990s.

Sources

Tucker, 1997.

Various entries in the NELM catalogue.

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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