Theatre and society in South Africa : some reflections in a fractured mirror

The debate about the precise relationship between theatre and society is an old and honourable one - whether in terms of the Shakespearean metaphor Oorfles utilizes (along with a vast range of other writers), or in terms of Aristotle's Mimesis, Or Johnson's Nature, Coleridge's Truth, and the many other metaphors used to indicate the representative nature of the arts. The way one perceives this clearly has a great deal to do with who one is and how one has been socialized oneself. It is also clear from even the most superficial reading of the many theorists over the ages, that no-one sees it as a simple, predictable or even dependable relationship, or even a matter of precise unmeditated imitation of an external 'reality'.1 It is too dependent on human beings and their complex and perverse natures to be so. It is also perceived as an 'art' created by an individual'artist' - and the terms art and artist are themselves concepts of some flexibility. But all agree, somewhere along the line, that there is a relationship of some kind between a performance and the socio-cultural context in which it occurs.Was printed as a book, now out of stock and only available online

Dances in the park: The pre-history of the Maynardville Open Air Theatre

There is a popular belief that Cape Town’s Maynardville Theatre was founded in 1955, and first used in 1956, as the brainchild of the two professional actresses Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson. While this is true of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park productions over the years, the use of Maynardville as a performance venue dates back to 1950 and the efforts of Margaret Molteno, the Athlone Committee for Nursery School Education and the University of Cape Town Ballet Company. This article traces the evolution of the popular theatre venue from the first production of a triple bill (comprising Les Sylphides, St Valentine’s Night and Les Diversions) in a makeshift theatre in the Maynardville Park grounds in 1950, to the introduction of Shakespeare in 1956, and ultimately the outdoor theatre of today with its annual Shakespeare and ballet productions. The Shakespearean history is already well-documented, so this article focuses more specifically on the somewhat forgotten role played by ballet productions in that history. The article includes a short history of the original property and the creation of the public park, as well as a full list of the ballets and plays performed at Maynardville since 1950