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OPEN AIR THEATRE
by Alfred Porter, FLA, City Librarian
1972.
Open air theatres are still regarded in South Africa as something of a novelty, but if we look back over the long history of theatre we find that the enclosed or at least the roofed-in theatre is the interloper.
In England, for instance, the indoor theatre dates only from the late l7th century when theatre again came back into fashion after the Restoration.
Theatrical performances had, of course, been given in royal palaces and noblemen's halls, but all theatres proper were open to the sky.
Theatre, like most other social institutions, was not suddenly discovered or invented but evolved gradually.
Primitive man had his ritual and ceremonial dances and these still survive in country dances, maypole festivals and "mummers".
In early Greece these dances became connected with religion in the Dionysian rites.
Temple of Dionysius
By the 6th century BC these followers of Dionysius had developed a form of choral performances in which they sang and danced the epic material of the Homeric legends.
Tradition has it that a priest of Dionysius named Thespis (from which our word "Thespian" comes) introduced the first actor into these performances, who answered the leader of the chorus and thus made dialogue possible.
These performers began to tour the country to give performances.
The main performance at Athens took place in a natural amphitheatre where spectators could seat themselves on the surrounding hillside and watch the performers on the levelled space below.
This levelled space became known as the "orchestra" which comes from the Greek word for "dancing".
The Athens Amphitheatre
Permanent theatres, however, were a long time coming.
At best temporary wooden seats would be provided for spectators.
The magnificent stone-built theatres such as can be seen at Athens and Epidaurus came much later.
By the middle of the 5th century B.C., an architectural facade of wood, called the "skene" was being used as a background to the action.
Painted canvases were later fitted to the facade to denote the action of the play, and even some form of machinery was used to fly the gods who often intervened at some critical point in the play.
The phrase "deus ex machina" originates from this.
About 150 B.C. the stage behind the orchestra (or dancing floor) was heightened, and the orchestra was occupied only by the singers, dancers and instrumentalists.
This "orchestra" has now so diminished that only the "orchestra pit" is left.
Roman theatre originated in the great arenas where games were held - races, circuses and gladiatorial combats.
Occasionally recitals, clowning acts and musical items were given as interludes and these went under the name of "ludi scenii".
Later, the theatre detached itself from the games and open-air theatres with magnificent architectural and painted backgrounds were built.
Curtains were used to conceal parts of the "sceni" not relevant to the action and later a gigantic curtain was used to conceal the whole stage, being raised and lowered from a trench in front of the stage.
It will be seen that by this time practically all the elements of the modern stage were now in use.
With the fall of the Roman Empire the theatre disappeared.
It was revived by the church in the Middle Ages when certain parts of the liturgy began to be dramatised by monks and clergy.
The Easter story was specially important.
El Greco's Easter Story
Gradually the scenes became more dramatic.
Structures were erected to represent the sepulchre, for instance.
Minor characters might introduce a note of comedy.
Soon the plays became too elaborate for the church and were moved into the churchyard, and were performed in the vernacular instead of in Latin.
And so the theatre came out into the open again.
Booths were erected on scaffolds to represent various locations - heaven, hell-mouth, Jerusalem, etc. - and elaborate effects were devised.
With the discovery of gunpowder fireworks became part of the devils' wardrobe.
The primitive booths became elegant pavilions sometimes with painted backdrops.
These structures were sometimes erected on carts and paraded through the town where each cartload of actors performed their parts at frequent stops.
As time went on strolling groups of players came into being, setting up their booths or stages at fairs, in the yards of inns and other suitable places.
Theatre buildings as such did not appear until the end of the l5th century.
In Italy the classical revival brought about attempts to imitate the old Roman theatres - circular, with tiered seats, and open to the sky.
This period saw the development of elaborate classical stage settings.
In England it was not until Elizabethan times that special theatres were built.
The Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's "wooden 0" was typical, a tall circular building with tiers of galleries and a "pit" for the "groundlings", a stage and "skene" at one side, but still open to the sky.
As is well-known, theatres in England were closed during the period of the Commonwealth.
With the Restoration, the exiled gentry brought back with them many continental ideas including indoor theatres.
Sir Christopher Wren designed the Drury Lane Theatre which was still based on the Roman plan of a semi-circular auditorium, but the building was roofed over.
So the theatre went indoors.
Drury Lane Theatre
The proscenium arch tradition evolved, so that the spectator seemed to be looking at the action through a window, the "fourth wall" of theatre parlance.
Each member of the audience was a detached, if interested, spectator, a godlike beholder but not directly involved.
Something of the rapport between actor and audience may have been lost. Perhaps open air theatre can restore this.
Of course, outdoor theatre in the broad sense never disappeared entirely.
Pageants, seasonal "mumming" plays, folk festivals, even seaside pierrots and Punch and Judy shows helped to keep the concept alive.
Punch and Judy Show
But theatre as it was generally understood was confined to the indoor theatre.
Histories of the theatre have very little to say about the modern revival of outdoor theatre.
In Britain the chief figure in the movement seems to have been Sydney Carroll - actor, dramatic critic and director - who started the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 1933, with Robert Atkins as producer.
They concentrated on the presentation of Shakespeare's plays, their first one being the favourite for open-air production, "Midsummer Night's Dream".
This theatre has become a national institution with Britain's leading actors taking part.
The Regent's Park Theatre, however, was forestalled by the Minack Open Air Theatre in Cornwall, near the southernmost tip of Cornwall.
Minack Open Air Theatre near Cornwall, England
It is literally on the coast - actors could fall off the stage into the sea if they were not careful.
As at Maynardville, it was two ladies of determination and imagination who started it.
Miss Dorothea Valentine persuaded her friend Miss Rowena Cade to stage a play in her coastal garden.
This was found not to be entirely satisfactory, so at enormous expense and trouble Miss Cade had a gully running from her garden down to the sea terraced and levelled.
Granite outcrops at either side provide natural "wings".
And there with the magnificent background of sea and cliffs Shakespearean and other spectacular plays have been presented since 1932, starting at first with two a year, but now having to put on ten every year.
Other such theatres have been opened in Britain, even the little industrial town of Heywood in Lancashire having become notable for the design of its outdoor stage in the form of a large reinforced concrete shell-like structure with special acoustical properties.
Heywood outdoor stage
In America things have been done on a grandiose scale.
Already by the 1930's the Hearst Greek Theatre in California was presenting the old Greek plays under the original conditions in a replica of an ancient Greek Theatre.
Hearst Greek Theatre
In 1942, the magnificent and astonishing Red Rocks Open Air Theatre in Utah was opened, again designed on the Greek model.
Red Rocks Open Air Theatre
The University of Miami built an experimental theatre with open air stage which can be used for drama "in the round" as the usual proscenium arch stage, a horse-shoe stage, an Elizabethan stage or a musical comedy stage.
On the continent the beautiful "garden" theatre of San Giorgo at Venice, with the old semi-circular auditorium, was open in 1954.
At Oberammergau the famous Passion Play has been performed in the open since the l7th century, although the audience is now under cover.
Oberammergau Passion Play
Everyone in South Africa, of course, knows of the Maynardville Open Air Theatre, but previous to this there had been experiments in this line.
In 1954, the Johannesburg Parks Department created a temporary open air theatre, but this was used only for concerts, ballet, volkspele and volksang.
In his account of this the then Director of Parks Mr W G Sheat, F Inst PA, felt that the labour involved in building this and then demolishing it after the season was not a business proposition and he urged the creation of a permanent open-air theatre.
At Vereeniging, too, an island at the confluence of the Klip and Vaal Rivers was turned into a temporary stage, the curve of the bank forming a natural auditorium.
Here again, this was used only for ballet and recitals by bands.
The Maynardville enterprise owes its existence to the devotion and imagination of two ladies who were already well-known in the theatrical world - Mrs. Renee Ahrenson and Mrs. Cecilia Sonnenberg.
Maynardville Open Air Theatre
In 1955 they were in London and saw the Regent's Park production of "Midsummer Night's Dream" with Leslie French as Puck.
After the performance they met French at a cocktail party and expressed the wish that he would come out to South Africa and do a play for them.
Half jokingly he replied "All right, find me an open air theatre and I will".
They took him at his word, went back to Cape Town and negotiated with the City Council to hire a site at Maynardville.
Preparations had to be hurried.
A bank of lawn was constructed to form a stage.
The auditorium area was raked smooth and collapsible (sometimes very collapsible) chairs were hired from the Council.
Dressing rooms were corrugated iron shacks.
Electric cables tripped up the unwary.
Entrance to the stage was by ladders from the back.
A shaky footbridge over a stream was responsible for the disaster when Mr. French, in full costume, fell into the water.
The first play presented in February, 1956 was "The Taming of the Shrew".
French returned almost every year to direct a Shakespeare play including "The Tempest", "Macbeth", "Hamlet", "As You Like It", the "Dream", "Much Ado", "Merchant of Venice", "Twelfth Night" and "Winter’s Tale".
The drive and enthusiasm of Mesdames Ahrenson and Sonnenberg brought about wonderful improvements and Maynardville become a national institution.
Famous overseas actors, including French himself and Bernard Brown were engaged to take part.
Fort Frederick
Port Elizabeth took the plunge and intended to establish a permanent open air theatre.
According to Mr. Bruce Mann, the chief promoter of this enterprise, an open air performance of Hamlet was given as far back as 1799 by the officers of the garrison at Fort Frederick.
In 1938, the next recorded open air performance was given.
This was "Midsummer Night's Dream" staged at, of all places, the St George's Swimming Bath in the Park, in aid of funds for the hospital.
Mrs Helen Mann later P.E.'s best known actress and producer, was one of the tiny elves at that performance.
The original cast from the 1938 production of
"A Midsummernight's Dream".
The next open air production was an indirect result of the 1968 floods.
In that disaster Happy Valley, one of the great attractions for visitors, was devastated.
In its reconstruction, under the direction of Mr. John Shelton (who incidentally, had had a hand in the construction of Maynardville), a special raised and grassed stage was built, mainly for open air concerts, variety turns and talent contests during the holiday season.
Fully equipped dressing rooms and an electric powerhouse, skillfully concealed, were provided.
Happy Valley after the 1968 Flood.
Bruce and Helen Mann who had been given the task of producing "The Merchant of Venice" for February, 1971, decided to stage it on this site.
Mr. Leslie French had already been engaged to direct the play and to take the part of Shylock.
(He had already directed and acted in "Twelfth Night" for the Manns under the aegis of the 1970 Settlers Celebration Committee).
The City Council co-operated willingly and a three week run was decided upon.
A temporary stand was erected and the auditorium and stage were enclosed in hessian barriers.
A finely conceived set was constructed which harmonised beautifully with the natural surroundings.
In spite of a few inclement evenings the enterprise was successful.
Thousands of people, including hundreds of scholars, attended, some probably seeing Shakespeare for the first time.
However, the Manns felt that conditions there were not entirely ideal.
The narrow valley acted like a funnel for the winds which sometimes interfered with the sound.
Heavy dew and sea mist could make conditions for the audience uncomfortable.
They decided to seek for a more suitable site and found it in a quiet, secluded and little-frequented part of St. George's Park.
Over the years Mannville proved to be a popular venue with theatre goers until 2010 whe a series of theft and vandalism caused the Shakespearean Festival to look to other venues for it's productions.
Both the Opera House and the Athenaeum were used while Rocky Mann played a leading role in negotiating with the municipality (mainly the Parks Department) to have a new control tower built and a beautiful eco friendly security fence erected around the venue. The public toilettes and actor's change rooms were revamped at the same time.
The Clover Bowl for Special Achievement in Theatre was awarded to Rocky Mann for leading the effort to revitalise Mannville and return it to previous popular status in 2015.