Luxurama Theatre

A venue in Wynberg, Cape Town. (Also known as The Luxurama or The Lux).

Built by the Quibell Brothers, it opened in 1964 under the management of Ronnie Quibell. For a while (1964-67) it was run as an "open" entertainment venue, exploiting a weakness in the apartheid legislation of the time. This allowed it to be used by visiting overseas artists such as Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Troggs, etc who wanted to appear before non-segregated audiences. In 1967 it had to conform to apartheid laws, and Dusty Springfield cancelled her tour. Others (e.g. Adam Faith, Percy Sledge and Peaches and Herb) still performed there in the 1960s. Thereafter it became an occasional venue, showing low-grade films and used as a political meeting place by the United Democratic Front and other groups. The Luxurama: It admitted multi-racial audiences. The Quibell’s, building contractors, built this theatre on land they owned circa 1964. Arthur Miller’s After the Fall, produced by Leon Gluckman and Leonard Schach, was staged here in 1964. Leonard directed Leon and Erica Rogers. It was performed to multi-racial audiences.

In 2015 the Baxter Theatre Centre and Alistair Izobell presented a musical tribute to the venue, called Remembering the Lux. Devised and directed by Izobell with a cast featuring himself, Terry Fortune, Terry Hector, Loukmaan Adams, Niesa Abrahams, Leslie Kleinsmidt, Giempie Vardien, Nur Abrahams and Felicity Keran, accompanied by a 5-piece live band.

Sources

Percy Tucker, 1997

"Baxter Theatre Centre: What's on in September?" Baxter Newsletter, Monday 8/31/2015

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