Mignon Sorel

(18**-1937) Flemish actress of uncertain origin (she claimed to have been from Petrograd, having trained with Max Reinhardt, earlier performed under the name Poldi Sorel). Married to Louis de Vriendt, (she says she met him him in Budapest) and when they returned to Europe in 1914 they lived in Amsterdam and later moved to Belgium and formed the De Comoedia theatre group, presenting popular "transformation pieces" in which they portrayed a dozen or more characters. In the 1922-23 season they joined Anton Verheyen on his tour of India and returned with him to Cape Town in 1927, to tour with their pieces, including Bietje ("Little"), De Brandstichter ("The Pyromaniac", De Gebroken Spiegel ("The Broken Mirror"), Niksnuts ("Worthless Man") and De Zonden van het Verleden ("The sins of the past" or Het Kind der Zonde = "Child of Sin "). Soon Verheyen breaks way, and they continued touring on their own. ** She passed away while on tour in Senekal in the Free State in 1937.

Sources

Afrikaanse Skrywerskring. Jaarboek, 1937.

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