Des and Dawn

Des and Dawn is the name under which the couple Des Lindbergh and Dawn Lindbergh (néé Dawn Silver)performed as singers. It became the general way of referring to the ifluential theatrical couple.

Singers and performers

They started out as as the singing duo Des and Dawn in the 1960s, specializing in folk music in both English and Afrikaans.

Folk on Trek Productions

From there they developed the company Folk on Trek Productions to manage their shows. Based in Johannesburg it became the base from which The Soirée Society grew.

The Soirée Society

Focused on experimental as well as intimate theatre, this held regular Soirées at the Lindbergh home. CAT Productions

CAT Productions

Des and Dawn gradually moved on to cabaret and, in the 1970s, TV shows and theatre production, becoming a very successful production company, doing theatre, musicals, industrial theatre and sound recording. In the 1980s they registered a theatrical company called CAT Productions to manage these projects.

Production work

They put on a range of musical works in the 1970s and 1980s. and put in a very competitive tender for the theatre that was to be built in the old Newtown produce market, but lost to Mannie Manim and Barney Simon, who went on to found the Market Theatre.

Productions include Pippin (1972), their highly controversial yet successful tour of Godspell (1973), put on at non-theatrical venues such as the Christian Brother’s Colleges’ school halls, in order to circumvent the censorship system and ignore the ire of the more traditional church leaders. Other successful productions include My Name is Alice, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and **. Their later production of King Afrika (198*??) was less of a success.

By the 1990s they too had moved into the lucrative field known as industrial theatre.

Also well known for their musical soirees at their Houghton home in Johannesburg. The many musicals and plays produced by Des and Dawn Lindberg include: Godspell ('73, '74, '75, '77, ’85 (with PACT), '94), "Pippin", which starred Sammy Brown ('75), The Shrew ('75), The Black Mikado ('76), Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring Abigail Khubeka and Judy Page ('78), Lennon ('82), I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road ('83), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour ('86) (Vita Award: Best Production), A, My Name is Alice ('86), When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout ('87), King Afrika starring Henry Cele, Mara Louw, Elzabe Zietsman and Abigail Khubeka ('89), Wanna Be Gonna Be, a development show staged at the Market Theatre and the Civic Theatre (2000), Popcorn (Johannesburg Civic '98 / Real Concerts '99) (22 Vita nominations, 5 Awards), Sex, Tango & Everything Else ('01/ '02), The Vagina Monologues ('03 , '04), Des & Dawn Still Truckin' ('05, '06), Unicorns, Spiders & Dragon's Tales ('05, '06), The Good Body ('07), ** (See Schwartz, 1988, De Beer, 1995, Joyce, 1999)

For more information

Go to the website http://www.desdawn.co.za/

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