Mrs Cooper
Mrs Cooper (fl 1860s-1870s) was an actress, dancer and choreographer.
Contents
Biography
Though her involvement in theatre is recorded, little is known about her personal biography, beyond the fact that she originally began her career in South Africa in Port Elizabeth, later moving to Cape Town, and that she was married to set designer and builder R.S. Cooper.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
She devised and performed Our Volunteers in 1863, as part of a benefit evening for her by the newly founded Port Elizabeth Dramatic Club. Collaborators included former members of the old Sefton Parry Company, such as John Howard and her husband R.S. Cooper, who built and painted the with scenery.
In 1867 she assisted Alfred Ray with the "polygraphic descriptions" in "18 characters and 8 songs", that accompanied the diorama called The Excursionist, created by her husband Cooper, and did the same for his next venture, the diorama The Cosmorama in 1868.
Sources
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.
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