Angelique Rockas

Angelique Rockas is an stage and film actress, theatre practitioner and producer, and activist.

She has also performed under the stage name Angeliki.

Biography

Born and raised in Boksburg, South Africa, to immigrant Greek parents, she had her early education at St Dominic's Catholic School for Girls in Boksburg, Transvaal, where the activist and later ANC cabinet minister, Barbara Hogan was one of her contemporaries. Her own activist beliefs began at school and were originally inspired by the prejudice shown her brother, who had been born misformed, while her participation in school plays and local eistedfords etc. sparked an interest in the theatre.

She and Hogan would get to know each other when they both went on to study at the University of the Witwatersrand, where Angelique did a BA, beginning with a focus on politics, but later taking Philosophy as her major. She continued her studies there with an Honours degree in English Literature, while doing drama in an extra curricular course. and also completing a BA honours degree. She now became more actively involved with various political causes.

She then went to the University of Cape Town to complete a Performers Diploma at the Drama Department, under the direction of Robert Mohr. Among her contemporaries there were Reza de Wet,

On completion of the course however, she realised that there was no place for her given her belief in a just non-racial society and the equality for women. So she moved to London, where she initially worked for a marxist Greek Cypriot theatre company called Theatro Technis in North London, before branching out on her own with .

Later career in theatre, film and TV

Her London career began with performances for Theatro Technis.

In September 1980 Angelique founded the Internationalist Theatre[1] in London, aimed at pursuing an internationalist approach in its choice of plays and a multi-racial policy, seeking an even mix of performers drawn from different cultural groups. In November 1980, Rockas produced and financed a performance of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford, performing the lead part of "Annabella" herself. She would thereafter perform in several productions by Internationalist Theatre in London from 1981 to 1985, among them "Carmen" in The Balcony (Genet), "Yvette" in Brecht`s Mother Courage and Her Children and "Tatiana" in Gorky`s Enemies, Medea (1982), "Miriam" in the London premiere of Tennessee Williams`s In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel and "Julie" in Strindberg`s Miss Julie (1984).

In 1986 the theatre received charity status in England.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelique_Rockas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalist_Theatre

Personal correspondence from Sonia Hopkins (9-10 February, 2019)

Personal correspondence with Angelique Rockas(17 February, 2019)

The Complete Unpublished Extract Of Angelique Rockas` South African Journey, Used As Basis For Interview With The South African , Internet Archive[2]

Go to the ESAT Bibliography

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