Johannesburg Theatre & Music History | Brickhill & Burke | #5

December 14. 2023

Husband and wife duo Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke dominated the musical and dance production scene in Johannesburg in the 1970s and 1980s. The White River programs include 6 of their productions over this period.

Three of the earlier productions (2* Minstrel Scandals and Lock Up Your Daughters) were at the (still standing today) Alexander Theatre in Braamfontein. Two productions (Meropa and Hello Dolly) were at His Majesty’s Theatre in the city, sadly no longer standing after being demolished in 1981. Hello Dolly in that year was the final production.

Recollection from Meropa stage director Stan Knight:

“Mondays and Tuesdays were for the black audiences, while Wednesdays to Saturdays for the whites,” he said. “Sunday was for religion. The only good thing was that the system led to a wider audience.”

A scan through the adverts in the above six programs shows the emergence of Japanese cars (Datsun in particular) in South Africa. Remember the condescending “Jap Crap” dismissal? Unthinkable today.

Postscript:

A sharp eyed reader noted that the Boeing in the SAA advert is the ill fated Helderberg, a plane that controversially crashed into the sea near Mauritius in 1987.