H. Booth
(**-**) Professional British actor manager. Often referred to merely as Mr Booth.
Contents
Biography
A professional actor from the Theatre Royal in London. Apparently unrelated to any of the other famous Booths in England or the USA, but clearly experienced.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He arrived in Cape Town in 1829 on his way to New South Wales and soon gathered the various amateur groups in Cape town around him in a new company, reviving the name All the World's a Stage.
In 1829 he presented and played Rolla, Sheridan's Pizarro, Jerrold's Black-Eyed Susan, and Othello. Deciding to stay on, and between 1829 and 1833 the company presented (or he was involved in) plays such as The Castle Spectre, The Lying Valet, The Gambler's Fate (Thompson), The Miller's Maid (Saville), The Flying Dutchman (Fitzball), Weber's opera Der Freischütz, The Spectre Bridegroom (Montcrieff).
He ended his stay in the Cape with excerpts from the Merchant of Venice.
The critic for the Commercial Advertiser criticised Booth's acting, particularly in the more serious roles, such as Shakespeare, but he was popular, as a professional in a predominantly amateur society had a recognisable influence on English theatricals in Cape Town and evidently did well enough to retire to England in 1833 on the proceeds.
[TH,JH]
Sources
Bosman 1928;
Fletcher, 1994;
Du Toit, 1988
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