Bree Street Theatre
The Bree Street Theatre was a venue on the corner of Bree- and Dorp-Streets in Cape Town .
It possibly existed as early as 1848, since Jill Fletcher (1994, p. 79), mentions that the Mauritian circus of Dalla Case first appeared there in 1848. However, elsewhere she says it was at the Hope Street Theatre.
More certain is that it was possibly started in 1852 and occupied by the Dutch company Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst for a while. It seems to have been a well-equipped for a theatre, but a somewhat inadequate and uncomfortable hall, and this led its early demise. Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst discontinued their use of it towards the end of 1853 and, after being used by the City Amateur Theatrical Society for a few performances in 1854, the venue was finally abandoned as a theatre space.
[TH, JH]
Sources
Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg.
F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp. 426-7, 456-7,
De Zuid Afrikaan, 12 Sept. 1853.
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