African Consolidated Theatres

African Consolidated Theatres (ACT) was a national theatre and film organization active in the country for much of the 20th century.

Also found as African Consolidated Theatres Ltd, but colloquially referred to simply as African Theatres or by its acronym: ACT.

Beginnings with African Theatres Trust

The African Theatres Trust was founded in 1913 by I.W. Schlesinger and A.H. Stodel (Harry Stodel), with the intention of saving the ailing theatre industry by organizing it nationwide. They pooled their resources to gradually gain control of theatres and cinema halls across the country and set about bringing out dramatic, musical and pantomime companies to tour their circuit.

According to Groom (in Bosman, 1980: p. 435) the Trust first made its presence felt in the country in 1911, though Percy Tucker (1997: ) says it was only founded in 1913.

African Consolidated Theatres (ACT)

Eventually this empire grew to encompass the mighty cinema industry as well and was renamed African Consolidated Theatres (or simply ACT) in 19**. Soon the company became central to the development of professional theatre and film in the country. It appears it continued to produce theatre until 1969.

Between 1920 and 1960 virtually no-one could play the cities without the support and involvement of ACT, or at least utilizing their facilities. The company bought the wardrobe of the Graaff-Reinet Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society upon its disbandment for £2000. In 1932 they contracted the Johannesburg REPS for a production of Dangerous Corner in His Majesty’s Theatre and in 1933 for one of Shaw’s Arms and the Man. In 1941, when the outbreak of war had seriously curtailed professional theatre in South Africa, African Theatres once again invited the REPS to take over the Standard Theatre, and from then till the end of war in 1945, almost all of its work was ceded to the REPS. They later collaborated with NTO on a number of projects as well.

African Consolidated Theatres was later sold to 20th Century Fox in the 1950s after Schlesinger's death.

Hymie Udwin was an executive at ACT for many years.

Productions

1920: The Sleeping Beauty

1921: The Sleeping Beauty

1922: Robinson Crusoe

1923: Robinson Crusoe

1932: Dangerous Corner (Johannesburg Reps)

1933: Arms and the Man (Johannesburg Reps)

1939: Robinson Crusoe

1940s: (date unknown) The Desert Song

1940: Night Must Fall, The Corn is Green

1941: Alice in Wonderland, Tosca (John Connell), Jack and the Beanstalk

1942: The Sleeping Beauty

1943: Dick Whittington and his Cat

1944: Dick Whittington and his Cat, Cinderella

1945: The Peepshow of 1945, Tosca, Aladdin

1946: Robinson Crusoe

1948: Oklahoma!

1949: Three Brian Brooke Company productions: Present Laughter, No Room at the Inn, The Heiress

1950: Brigadoon (Phil Levard's last production for ACT), Cinderella

1952: Dick Whittington

1955: Two Taubie Kushlick productions: The Desperate Hours and The Fifth Season

1958: The Pajama Game

1959: Bo Jungle (in association with Bertha Egnos)

1962: My Fair Lady

1964: The Moulin Rouge Show

1966: The Minstrel Scandals

1969: Fiddler on the Roof

International artists

1946: George Formby performed for ACT at the Colosseum Theatre.

1947: Imported Ivor Novello and his full company to tour his musical Perchance to Dream which appeared at His Majesty's Theatre.

1949: They imported Irving Berlin’s musical, Annie Get Your Gun (Jimmy Mackenzie was responsible for publicity at this time).

1954: ACT booked Danny Kaye, a stand-up comedian to play in Johannesburg; ACT brought Maurice Schwartz and his Yiddish Art Theatre Company from New York to His Majesty’s Theatre.

1955: ACT brought out Sir Edmund Hillary to give lectures at the Plaza Theatre.

1957: Bernard Delfont’s London version of the Folies Bergère

1964: They imported Lilac Time from Tom Arnold as part of the Johannesburg Festival; they presented Zizi Jeanmaire at the Empire Theatre in a large-scale revue; they also presented British comedian Bruce Forsyth.

1966: They brought The Seekers to the Colosseum Theatre,

1967: Together with Goerge and Alfred Black, they presented Michael Bentine, Joe Baker and Jane Fyffe in Let Yourself Go during the Christmas season of 1967.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.

Brian Brooke. 1978. My Own Personal Star: An Autobiography. Johannesburg: The Limelight Press.

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.

Temple Hauptfleisch. 1997. Theatre and Society in South Africa: Reflections in a Fractured Mirror. Pretoria: Van Schaik[1].

Loren Kruger 1999. The Drama of South Africa: Plays, Pageants and Publics Since 1910. London: Routledge.

Olga Racster. 1951. Curtain up! The story of Cape Theatre. Cape Town: Juta.

South African History Online "A History of the South African Film Industry timeline" 1895-2003, [2]

Stodel, Jack 1962. The Audience Is Waiting. Cape Town: Howard Timmins.

Percy Tucker. 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

https://johannesburg1912.com/2013/07/29/theatres-in-early-johannesburg/

(For the plays done or supported by ACT, see Part 3, Sections 4a and 4b)

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page