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.