René Ahrenson
René Ahrenson (1905-1990) was an actress, director and theatre entrepreneur.
Contents
Biography
Born and raised in Cape Town (??).
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
As director
1938: Love on the Dole (Cape Town Repertory Theatre Society)
1942: Mourning Becomes Electra (Spotlight)
1943: Arsenic and Old Lace (produced by the SAWAS of Command 14 Entertainment Unit (Benoni) at the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg; proceeds from the concert went to the SAWAS Red Cross Prisoners of War Fund and Command 14 Entertainment Welfare Work0.
1943: The Laughing Woman (Spotlight Players)
1944: Home is the Hero (Spotlight Theatre)
1944: Rebecca (African Consolidated Theatres)
1945: The Man Who Could Work Miracles (SABC Radio)
1945: Manhattan Blackout (SABC Radio)
1948: Happy as Larry (UCT Dramatic Society with a cast of students)
1949: The Importance of Being Earnest (Little Theatre Players)
As theatre producer/administrator
In collaboration with her friend Cecilia Sonnenberg, she created the Spotlight Theatre during the second world war and they held numerous play readings in the Electricity House Theatre in Strand Street.
For more information, see Spotlight Theatre.
In 1956 she and Sonnenberg initiated and went on to manage the Shaespeare productions at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre in Wynberg, Cape Town. There she appeared in and directed numerous productions. In 1975 Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson signed an agreement with CAPAB to jointly manage the Maynardville theatre for the next five years. In 1980, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Maynardville Shakespeare production, they retired from the management of Maynardville.
For more information, see Maynardville Open-Air Theatre.
She was a founder member of The Company of Four (1977-1986) with Leonard Schach, Donald Inskip and Cecilia Sonnenberg.
For more information, see The Company of Four.
As actress
Ahrenson also appeared in a number of plays, including: The Winter's Tale (Maynardville, 1959), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Maynardville, 1969)
Sources
The Women's Auxiliary, September 1943, pg 39.
See: De Beer, 1995; Tucker, 1997; Inskip, 197*
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