Cape Town Dramatic Club
The Cape Town Dramatic Club was an amateur society active in Cape Town in the 1850s,
The club was the source of the spin-off society, the Alfred Dramatic Club (later Royal Alfred Dramatic Club), founded by dissident members in 1860. For occasionally they performed with the new company under a joint name (company called the Cape Town and Royal Alfred Dramatic Club.
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The Cape Town Dramatic Club
The Cape Town Dramatic Club (also found as the Cape Town Theatrical Club) was a male-only amateur dramatic society founded in the Cape Town in 1857 or 1858 by R.W. Murray.
After his return to Cape Town in 1857, Sefton Parry utilized the club members (as well as those from other local companies) to produce his pantomime and other productions in the Drawing Room Theatre, which he had had constructed for his use, even though some acrimony apparently existed between Parry and the club members at various times.
Some members of the club were also used by Charles Fraser for his 1859 season in the Cabinet Theatre.
The opposition to Parry came to a head in 1860, when a number of the members broke away to form an own company, Alfred Dramatic Club, while the original club was reorganized.
The Alfred Dramatic Club
The newly formed Alfred Dramatic Club had almost 40 members and worked largely as a semi-professional company, with Sefton Parry as manager and G.H. Galt as secretary. The new Club limited itself to popular programmes and performed in the new Theatre Royal which Parry had had built in Harrington Street, more or less alternately with Parry's more serious fare with his professional company.
Their performances are listed below under
The Royal Alfred Dramatic Club
After the success of The Irish Tutor (2nd performance September 15, 1860) visiting Prince Alfred bestowed his name upon them, henceforth the company was known as the Royal Alfred Dramatic Club.
The Cape Town and Royal Alfred Dramatic Club
In 1861 the amateur members of the Royal Alfred Dramatic Club rejoined forces with the Cape Town Dramatic Club on occasion - in such cases referred to as the Cape Town and Royal Alfred Dramatic Club - and undertook a few co-presentations in the Theatre Royal during the 1861-1862 season.
In 1861:
On 11 February: The Lonely Man of the Ocean with new scenery and mechanical arrangements by Mr T. Baines.
On 7 March: My Friend in the Straps (Selby) and Othello a "musical extravaganza" by an anonymous author.
On 11 and 14 March: "Entertainment St George"
On 1 August: The Rivals (Sheridan), a dance by Lizzie Powell and The Bonnie Fishwife (Selby)
In 1862:
On 2 and 9 September: Helping Hands (Taylor), an operetta called No!!! (Clarence), and a song by Mr Beverley.
On 23 September: The Cure, with Still Waters Run Deep (Taylor), the latter performed by the Cape Town Dramatic Club alone.
On 30 September, 2, 6 and 14 October: a "musical burlesque" of The Colleen Bawn (Byron).
Sources
F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1].
F.C.L. Bosman, 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II: 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 53, 92-6, 157-160.
P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica.
Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg.
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