Reps Theatre is a multi-racial Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

 theatre and theatrical company based in the capital city of Harare

Harare

Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...

. It is one of Zimbabwe's oldest amateur theatrical companies. The first performance (17 February 1931) comprised two works - "Fame and the Poet" (Lord Dunsany) and "Magic" (G K Chesterton).
The society mostly performs European or American Theatre.

The Repertory Players is an amateur society operating with paid staff - a theatre manager, secretary, book-keeper, workshop, security, bar and cleaning staff. But all actors, actresses and technical personnel are unpaid volunteers.

In 1960, it became involved in a legal dispute because of its non-racial policies. This incident was nicknamed as "The Battle of the Toilets" (see below).

Early history

The Company was formed as a 'play-reading group' with four members. Then, in February 1931, the group started doing performances in the Duthie Hall. Over the next five years, numerous productions were performed under difficult conditions. In 1936, they were offered the Prince Edward School Beit Hall. The stage was better equipped, and patrons could hire out a cushion for 3d each. The society would perform 38 plays over the next 11 years, but in 1947, their tenancy was terminated as the Hall was needed for school functions.

The society was given accommodation in a ramshackle old hall, in the show grounds. The hall had been built as a cinema in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The hall was renovated and reopened in September 1947 as the 'Belveder Theatre'. The theatre held 240 people and proved to be very popular, mainly because of the improved standard of play presentation. Over the next 12 years, 74 plays were performed.

The new theatre

Two men who had a profound impact on the fortunes of Reps, were Adrian Stanley and George Barnes. In 1952, Reps celebrated its 21st birthday and plans to build a new theatre were taking shape. George Barnes suggested that a Theatre foundation membership scheme should be launched. The idea was that 500 people would each contribute 50 pounds to the building of the new theatre. By 1957, the Society had raised the 25,000 pounds and construction began.

The new Reps Theatre was opened in September 1960 with a gala production of Romanov and Juliet. This included a fanfare of trumpets from the BSAP band, incidental music from a section of the municipal orchestra, corsages for every lady in the audience, a formal opening ceremony by the Governor General of the Federation, Lord Dalhousie, and after the show a champagne party in the foyer for the entire audience.

In 1964, Adrian was appointed as the Theatre's first paid director, wasting no time in getting the Theatre out of the financial doldrums; Adrian Stanley is still producing shows to this day, and has literally hundreds of shows to his name.

Noel McDonald, another producer of note, gave much of his time to REPS theatre. He inspired many young people to tread the boards and produced pantomimes, adult and children's shows. His wife Mary produced numerous costumes for the shows and, despite sanctions, always managed to come up trumps.

"The Battle of the Toilets"

"The Battle of the Toilets" is the nickname for a saga that started when the committee decided to hold a secret ballot

Secret ballot

The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...

 to determine whether the new theatre, which was due to open in a few months, should be open to all races. An overwhelming majority voted in favour of the non-racial policy and the Reps Committee agreed.

The only problem was that the new theatre only had toilets for men and women, and there were immediate objections from the Salisbury Public Works Committee. They pointed to Section 142 of the Building By-Laws which stated that "Europeans are prohibited from using the same sanitary conveniences as Asiatics, Natives and/or Coloured people, and Asiatics, Natives and/or Coloured people are prohibited from using the same sanitary conveniences as Europeans".

On June 17, 1959, the Committee told Reps that, unless separate conveniences were provided, then they would not receive a Public building Certificate and the theatre would not open. The society was in a dilemma: the new toilets would be very expensive and would delay opening. There was also legal doubt about the validity

Validity

In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....

 of the Bylaw

Bylaw

By-law can refer to a law of local or limited application passed under the authority of a higher law specifying what things may be regulated by the by-law...

, and a debate on the issue of 'Public Conveniences' was shortly to be held in parliament. Also, this law was ignored in many other public buildings in Salisbury.

The City Council, however, pressed the issue and, on the December 14, 1954, insisted to Reps that there should not only be separate toilets, but a separate lobby and entrance. With one month until the official opening, on January 13, 1960, the Reps Committee moved to avoid a confrontation and the opening was restricted to Europeans.

Once the opening was behind them and encouraged by hints that the Public Works Committee was divided on the issue, Reps decided to stand firm. The chairman, Ken Towsey, wrote letters to the Mayor of Salisbury and Councillor J. J. Posselt, stressing the doubts on the Law's validity

Validity

In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....

.

The Public Works Committee did not stand down and on March 29, 1960, the Council sought an interdict

Injunction

An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...

 against Reps. This brought the confrontation to the fore: the Society had 30 days until the motion would be debated on the committee.

Reps sought the advice of Advocate Macaulay, Q.C. His opinion, which demolished the arguments of the Public Work Committee, was a model of precise argument. The report was about seven pages, and covered every aspect of the issue. It was said to read like an extract from Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...

, as the following passage shows:

"Even if the council had the power .. to regulate the use of sanitary conveniences, the Bye-Law would still be bad in law and void for vagueness and uncertainty and unreasonableness. It prohibits the use of one race of conveniences used by another race. How can any member of the public know whether the convenience has been used, at some time, by a member of another race? Once so used the convenience becomes incapable in law of being used by the race it was intended to serve! One illegal use by a member of the wrong race would thus render it incapable in law of being used by any race at all, thus removing it altogether from the awkward problem of human relations."

On April 8, the report was privately conveyed to the Mayor, who advised them to quietly carry on with its current policy. A few days later, the motion

Motion (democracy)

A motion is a formal step to introduce a matter for consideration by a group. It is a common concept in the procedure of trade unions, students' unions, corporations, and other deliberative assemblies...

 for an interdict was defeated. The 'Battle' was over.

1965 to present

In 1965, Prime minister Ian Smith

Ian Smith

Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...

 declared Rhodesia's independence

Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia)

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia from the United Kingdom was signed on November 11, 1965, by the administration of Ian Smith, whose Rhodesian Front party opposed black majority rule in the then British colony. Although it declared independence from the United Kingdom it...

 from Britain. This action, surprisingly, had no adverse effect on Reps' earnings for that year.

However, in the following years of Smith's rule, the sanctions against the country meant that obtaining the rights to perform became increasingly difficult. Many overseas companies felt that if they granted rights to Reps, they would be seen as somehow endorsing Smith's policies.

Adrian Stanley negotiated many of these contracts, and managed to obtain rights to several new productions - such as Godspell

Godspell

Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

 and Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...

. These two shows would become the most popular shows in Zimbabwe's history.

The Lancaster House Agreement

Lancaster House Agreement

The negotiations which led to the Lancaster House Agreement brought independence to Rhodesia following Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. The Agreement covered the Independence Constitution, pre-independence arrangements, and a ceasefire...

 and the forming of Zimbabwe, also didn't have much effect on the Theatre, apart from the easing of sanctions, etc. The only notable incident was when the independence celebrations were held, many visiting diplomats booked tickets for the Reps Theatre and hardly any showed up.

Today

Since its founding, the theatre has produced over 600 of its own shows. In recent years, the society has struggled with Zimbabwe's declining economy.

It has had to grapple with

• High costs of production
• Members leaving for overseas
• Shortages of petrol
• Difficulty of effective advertising
• Difficulty of replacing lights/bulbs/curtains
• As during the period of UDI, rights to perform are extremely difficult to get.
• A 'culture of fear
  Culture of fear
  Culture of fear is a term used by certain scholars, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society incite fear in the general public to achieve political goals, for example......
  
  ' that restricts what can be said about the government

However, the theatre still manages to produce about six or seven plays per year and has absolutely no plans of slowing down.

Repteens

Repteens was founded in August 1960 as the 'young people’s company' at Reps Theatre. Repteens was given the objective of training young people in the Art of Theatre. It is open to people aged between 13 and 19 years and is run by an experienced theatre director/teacher. Its members are often recruited for use in Reps' major productions and the company will occasionally put on its own productions.

Many former members of Repteens have pursued a career in theatre - the most notable is the famed Over the Edge

Over the Edge (Zimbabwe)

Over the Edge is a Zimbabwean multi-racial Theatrical company. It is one of Zimbabwe's most prolific and successful independent theatre companies. They have won both local and international acclaim, as well as numerous awards....

 Company, which has won great recognition and awards for its productions in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

.

External links

• Reps Theatre Homepage (Contains details and photos of recent productions)
• A complete list of productions since 1931
• Over the Edge Theatrical Company
• Twin Arts (A Zimbabwe Art and Culture Events List)