WHERE RICH AND FAMOUS CAME TO PLAY

The Playhouse, on Anton Lembede (Smith) Street, has an illustrious history and started as a picture palace in 1896. It was rebuilt in 1935 in Tudor Revival style. It reopened on June 7, 1935. Next door was the glamorous Prince’s Theatre, which opened in 1926.

The Playhouse was a popular venue for more than just performances. The elegant building was also used to host various events such as wedding receptions and parties.

This picture was part of a pictorial aerogram of Durban sent to The Independent on Saturday by a reader and was probably taken in the 1950s. The Playhouse closed as a cinema in the 1970s. The building has since been restored and has now been combined with the Prince’s Theatre to form a state-of-the-art, multi-venue theatre complex that faithfully preserved many of the buildings’ original characteristics and architectural features.

In 1986, the Natal Playhouse complex opened and is still in use for theatre, dance, music and opera performances today.

In the picture on the right, our photographer Motshwari Mofokeng had to stand at a slightly flatter angle to the original because the trees outside the City Hall were partially obscuring the street.

The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it again.

Readers sending pictures digitally – images should be about 1MB – can address them, with the relevant information, to satmail@inl.co.za

If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.