Port Elizabeth Dramatic Society
(Also known as the Amateur Theatrical Society Port Elizabeth)
This is the first documented amateur dramatic society in Port Elizabeth. Formed in early 1840s and performed initially in The Lyceum. First performance in the new Port Elizabeth Theatre was September 10 1853: She Stoops to the Conquer (Goldsmith) and Did you ever send your wife to Camberwell? (Coyne).
Other productions included selections of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, The Spare Bed (Fox Cooper), The Road to Ruin (Holcroft), The Rivals (Sheridan), The Fast Train (Anon.), as well as The Thumping Legacy and An Unwarrantable Intrusion (both by J.M. Morton).
Port Elizabeth’s theatricals were considered to be ahead of Cape Town’s during this time. The Society continued productions up to 1858 (P.J. du Toit says 1856). The Lyceum was sold (1858) and the Society temporarily dissolved. CHECK THIS
Sources
F.C.L. Bosman, 1928;
Jill Fletcher, 1994;
P.J. du Toit, 1988 [TH]
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