Gustavus V. Brooke
Gustavus V. Brooke(1818-1866)[1] was a “great Tragedian” from England (of Irish extraction). Also referred to in sources as G.V. Brooke.
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Biography
Born in Dublin, Ireland, he went onto the stage at the age of about 15. He apparently had a good presence and a fine voice, but had failed to fulfill his early promise due to his drinking problems and poor financial management. So he took to touring, playing in America and the colonies. He left England on 25 November 1854, played a week at Cape Town Garrison Theatre and arrived at Melbourne on 23 February 1855 - to stay in Australia for more than six years. He died in a shipwreck on his way back to Australia on the SS London in 1866.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He arrived in Cape Town on 30 December 1854 and his brief visit to Cape Town with his company en route for his first engagement in the Australian goldfields apparently had quite an impact on local culture in South African city.
The company consisted of Miss Fanny Cathcart and Mr R. Younge and they performed in the Barracks Theatre during the revictualling of their vessel, presenting excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Othello,The Iron Chest and The Lady of Lyons, plus full performances of Box and Cox, The Stranger, The Angel of the Attic, and other light afterpieces. Apparently not well staged, but popular nevertheless.
He left the Cape on the SS Pacific on 10 January, 1856.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Vaughan_Brooke
F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [2]: pp.409-412.
Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg.
Hartnoll.
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