All the World's a Stage

(1807-1834; 1843-1848) An English amateur theatre company in the Cape.

Origins and first phase 1807-1820s

Originally a project of military officers, formed and led by Captain Frazer and colleagues in 1807 and which opened with Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer and the afterpiece The Farce of Taste on Saturday 20 June and closed that season with The Brothers and High Life Below the Stairs in November 1807. They performed a comedy as main play (with prologues and epilogues written locally) and a one-act farce as "afterpiece". They utilized the African Theatre for a number of years. Among their other productions in 1807-8 were The Rivals , The West Indian, Tom Thumb, The Beaux Stratagem, etc. They went in to decline during the 1820s

Revival by H. Booth 1829-1834

Revived with the arrival in Cape Town of Mr H. Booth, a professional from England, who in 1829 gathered the various amateur groups (the Garrison Players, the English Theatrical Amateur Company and the Cape Town Amateur Company) in Cape town around him in a new company, reviving the name. They performed in 1829 and 1830, though they apparently lasted until 1834.

Second revival 1843-1848

In 1843, after the relaxation of the anti-theatrical position of the dominant Methodist church, the company was revived. In 1845 they used the previously exclusively Dutch Roelandstreet Theatre but in 1846 returned to what was now known as the Victoria Theatre in Hope Street until 1848, after which they were disbanded. [TH, JH]

Performed The Brigand (Planché) 9 July, as the opening production in the newly re-opened Hope Street Theatre, now known as the Victoria Theatre, followed by A Day After the Fair (Somerset).

Performed The Brigand (Planché) on Saturday 4 September , 1846 most probably by All the World's a Stage, in the Victoria Theatre, followed by The Original (Morton) and The Lottery Ticket, or the Lawyer's Clerk (Beazley).

Performed The Brigand (Planché) on special request during the annual Race Week by All the World's a Stage on Saturday 12 September , 1846 in the Victoria Theatre, following on Who's Who? or The Double Imposture (Poole). Once more most probably by All the World's a Stage.

Sources

Laidler, 1926; Bosman, 1928 pp 69-78; Fletcher, 1994;

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