Edgar Perkins

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Edgar Perkins was a theatre manager and director based in Johannesburg in the late 19th century.


In January 1890 Perkins took an opera company to Cape Town for the first time, where they performed in the Exhibition Theatre, Cape Town. The company was managed and directed by Edgar Perkins and the performers included R.S. Gregg, E. le Hay, Dennis Coyne, Frank Wheeler, Harry Miller, Ada Bemister, Carrie Nelson, Harriet Wood, and Ella Bankhardt. Musical direction was by James Hyde. The repertoire consisted of inter alia Dorothy (Cellier and Stephenson), Falka (Leterrier and Vanloo/Farnie), Pepita (Chivot and Durn), Erminie (Bellamy and Paulton), Yeoman of the Guard (Gilbert and Sullivan), The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan) and Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan).

According to Boonzaier (1923), reporting on the 1890 Cape Town season, Perkins had "very artistic ideas in the direction of mise-en-scène" and his operas were staged "lavishly in regard to scenery and costume".