Helen Mann
Helen Mann (19*-) Actress and director.
At school, she learned to take her Shakespeare calmly and though her tutors regarded him with proper awe and reverence, the bits of Shakespeare's plays they rammed down her throat, at the rate of one per year, stuck in her throat for life.
Hers was a purely literary approach and “there was none of this modern nonsense about considering Shakespeare's plays as dramas to be acted on the stage," said Mann.
"It was all very confusing, but it seemed that some extraordinary man, called William Shakespeare for the sake of convenience, wrote very beautiful poetry and was very clever about people.
"Then Will Jamieson arrived in Port Elizabeth and produced Twelfth Night and many other wonderful plays.
"Will's genius, drive and uncanny grasp Shakespeare's work first taught Port Elizabethans (to) love the work of William Shakespeare, a writer of popular plays," she said.
Starting in 1949, she was always at the forefront of theatre in Port Elizabeth as an actress, producer, designer and decor artist, seamstress and costume designer and back stager.
A member of the Port Elizabeth Theatre Guild, she helped found and manage the Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival on May 10, 1960.
Although her acting parts were widely varied, she preferred the classics, particularly Shakespearean productions. She appeared in Will Jamieson's first post-war Shakespearean production of Twelfth Night.
Contributions to South African Theatre
As Actor
1952: Played the role of "Dynemone" in A Phoenix Too Frequent.
1952: Portrayed "Lady Precious Stream" in Lady Precious Stream.
1953: Played "Amanda" in Private Lives.
1954: Portrayed a Hypochondriac in Sorry, Wrong Number.
1954: She played the part of a Naughty Girl in Hit The Deck.
1956: She played the part of "Miranda" in Miranda.
1957: Portrayed "Piggy" in Hands Across the Sea.
1957: Played the Good Fairy in Cindrella.
1958: Played Arum Lily in Sleeping Beauty.
1959: Played "Audrey" in Autumn Crocus.
1959: She was "Miss Hybrid Mealie" in Aladdin.
1959: She portrayed "Esmeralda" in Dead On Nine.
1960: Played "Goneril" in King Lear alongside Andre Huguenet.
1960: Played "Emily" in Our Town.
1960: Portrayed a Young Wife in Flare Path.
1961: Portrayed "St Joan" in The Lark.
1961: Played "Laura" in Tea and Sympathy.
1962: Portrayed "Linda" in Death of a Salesman.
1962: Played "Hippolyte" (Antiphone??) in Rape of the Belt.
1963: Played "Argia" in Queen of the Rebels.
1964: Played "Katherina" in The Taming of the Shrew.
1965: Played "Beatrice" in Much Ado About Nothing.
1965: Played "Sally Thomas" in Signpost to Murder.
1970: Portrayed "Viola" in Twelfth Night.
1971: Portrayed "Portia" in The Merchant of Venice.
As Director
1955: Helen Mann produced Home and Beauty.
1955: Produced The Snow Goose
1963: Produced the opera, Carmen, for the Port Elizabeth Male Voice Choir.
1966: Produced The Mikado.
1966: Produced Cubarama.
1967: Produced Oklahoma.
1967: Produced The King and I.
1968: Produced Brigadoon for the Port Elizabeth Gilbert & Sullivan Society.
1968: Produced Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
1969: Produced The Student Prince.
1969: Produced Romeo and Juliet.
1970: Produced: The Desert Song.
1971: Produced Oliver for the Grey Junior School.
1972: Played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
She has appeared on stage in The Heiress (1974), King Lear (as Goneril) with André Huguenet, 1985.
She directed Children of the Wolf, Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival 1975, The Crucible (1978), No, No, Nanette (1975), Othello, 1978 for Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival, Mannville. Other productions include A Voyage Round My Father, As You Like It, Shrivings, Twelfth Night, Bosoms and Neglect, The Gingerbread Lady. Tinker's Curse, to name a few.
1991: Produced M. Butterfly for the Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival at the Port Elizabeth Opera House.
Mannville Open-air Theatre, Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival, Port Elizabeth Gilbert and Sullivan Society.
Sources
Various entries in the NELM catalogue.
Romeo and Juliet theatre programme, 1969.
The Sound of Music theatre programme, 1972.
M. Butterfly theatre programme, 1991.
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