The Enchanted Prince

• This production of “The Enchanted Prince” at the Library Theatre in Johannesburg took place during the July holiday season of 1962.
• Timeline Entry: 1962 – The Enchanted Prince
• Production: The Enchanted Prince (Children’s Pantomime)
• Venue: Biblioteek-teater (Library Theatre), Johannesburg
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey played the shamrock-faced Leprechaun. The reviewer groups him with Allan Rees (Hi Cockolorum) and Francesco (Magnus the Magician) as the grotesques the children enjoyed most.

Aubrey and Beryl in Oklahoma

• This production was staged at the Alexander Theatre in Johannesburg between 1963 and 1964. It was a pivotal moment for the Brickhill-Burke legacy, as they were invited specifically to stage it, leading to a massive eleven-month national tour; Ivor van Rensburg as Curly, Karin Johanson as Laurey, Joan Brickhill as Ado Annie, Louis Burke as Dream Curly.
• Timeline Entry: 1963–1964 – The Oklahoma! Tour
• Production: Oklahoma! (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
• Producers: Joan Brickhill & Louis Burke
• Venue: Alexander Theatre, Johannesburg (followed by an 11-month national tour)
• The Ellis Connection:
  •  Aubrey Ellis played Cord Elam.

Midsummer Nights Dream

• Timeline Entry: 1964 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Production: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare) — staged as the Alexander Theatre’s Shakespeare Quatercentenary offering (1564–1964)
• Company: The Alexander Theatre & Brickhill-Burke Productions, Johannesburg
• Venue: Alexander Theatre — opened 2 April 1964
• Director/Producer/Choreographer: Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke | Settings: Roy Cooke | Costumes: Audrey Ireland
• The Ellis Contribution: 
  • Aubrey is in the cast (by line order, one of the rustics, Snout).
  • Beryl is among the Athenians.
  • Aubrey Ellis Jnr, is the Changeling Child. Ian Lawrence, later Beryl’s folk partner, is also in the cast.
  • Aubrey also credited for props, alongside Aubrey Dwyer

Aubrey in Rashomon

Rashomon

Rashomon

• Production: Rashomon by Fay and Michael Kanin, from stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. PACT Theatre, directed by Joan Brickhill; costumes and decor by Graham Brown, music by Lawrence Rosenthal.
• Venue: National Theatre, Pretoria, and the Intimate Theatre, Johannesburg.
• The Ellis Contribution: 
  • Aubrey played the Deputy, his first appearance with PACT, and was also an assistant stage manager with Geraldine Chamberlain. Cast: Patrick Mynhardt (Bandit), Louis Burke (Husband), Denise van Gelder (Wife), Siegfried Mynhardt (Wigmaker), Arthur Hall (Woodcutter), Ronald Wallace (Priest), Sheelagh Ross (Mother), Fiona Fraser (Medium).
• Context: The programme biography says Aubrey had worked with Brickhill on Oklahoma! and Midsummer Night’s Dream, and had been chosen for Oliver! while at art school on a scholarship.

Beryls Folk Career begins

• The Ellis Connection: A Rand Daily Mail profile described Beryl’s penetrating, bell-like soprano voice, performing in Johannesburg coffee bars with mostly self-written material and traditional and modern ballads. She sang some topical protest songs, though stopped short of explicit statements against militarism.

First Pop Single: Birds Dont Sing

Birds Don’t Sing Here Anymore (1966)
Aubrey’s first pop record was a song he wrote himself. Released in South Africa on Continental Records, it entered the Springbok Radio Top 20 on 28 January 1966 and peaked at number 19 over three weeks. It was his only chart hit. The song was also recorded by the UK group The Banner Family, who issued it as the B-side of their 1966 Decca single “That Old Freight Train” (F 12440). An Italian-language edition, “Non è un giorno come tanti”, with words by Mario Coppola, was later published in Milan.

Teenage Personality

• Teenage Personality
• Publication: Teenage Supplement to Personality magazine, 12 May 1966, p. 15. Writer: Bob Kennaugh.
• The Ellis Contribution:
  • Profiled as a pop singer on the strength of “Birds Don’t Sing Here Anymore”, which he said he wrote “in 25 minutes exactly”. Traces his stage path: Oliver! (undertaker’s assistant, plus seven small parts), then the choruses of Oklahoma! and Il Trovatore, and a year-long opera tour of South Africa and Rhodesia.
• Context or Significance: Pop is presented as the means to pay for operatic study in Italy or the United States. Tenor Jan Peerce heard him sing an aria in Johannesburg and offered to arrange a place in the Metropolitan Opera chorus if he reached New York.

Ian and Beryl And Des and Dawn

• Timeline Entry: 1966 – Folk-Trek at the Intimate
• Production: Folk Trek, directed by Peter Prowse: a folk revue of some 40 items (“37” in the Sunday Express, “nearly 40” in The Star) played around a covered wagon by five singers, Des Lindberg, Dawn Silver (Dawn Lindberg), Ian Lawrence, Beryl Ellin and Duccio Alessandri. Die Vaderland bills them as the “Folk Five”. The satire took in U.D.I., the ban on folk music at Pretoria University, the Republic’s fifth birthday and the S.A.B.C.
• Venue: Intimate Theatre, Johannesburg.
• The Ellis Contribution: Beryl sang the duos with Ian Lawrence and the story of how the Unicorn became extinct. The Sunday Express (17 July 1966) called her voice “always pleasing, pitched to just the right meditative note for her duos with Ian Lawrence”. The Sunday Times magazine section (17 July) mentions “the silver of Beryl Ellin’s voice”. The Star prints her as “Ellen”.
• The reviews: They split. The Star (Wed 13 July, Christopher Ballantine, “A Trek to Nowhere”) found it “seldom more than a collection of hardly inspired numbers” but said “Beryl Ellen sings prettily”. An undated cutting by Percy Baneshik (“‘Minim’ line is followed in ‘Folk-Trek’”) called it “as entertaining a little offering as we have had since ‘Wait a Minim’ left these shores”, and described “Beryl Ellin” as “a large, blonde singer with a comely face” who “sings slow, sad ballads with a certain control”. Die Vaderland (Thu 14 July, Lettie Greyling, “Selfs anti-volksangers kan saamlag”) said Beryl’s “sweet voice” came forward in the moodier numbers such as “The Coming of the Road”.
• Context: The Sunday Times reviewer called it “the freshest thing since ‘Minim’ emigrated” and tipped it as “the surprise success of 1966”.

Aubrey plays lead tenor in Minstrel Scandals

• Production: Minstrel Scandals, staged by Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke (Brickhill-Burke). The 1970 Star feature records that the original ran 458 performances, with two Johannesburg seasons, and closed in Cape Town on 11 November 1967.
• Venue: Alhambra Theatre, Cape Town (opening); Empire Theatre, Johannesburg (two seasons).
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis was the tenor soloist. The Star of 19 Aug 1967 captions him with Eddie Ellis and Ronnie Grainge in the chorus-line rehearsal photograph and calls him “the tenor soloist”. Percy Baneshik (Star, 14 Aug 1970) lists him as “a tenor from the previous show”. ESAT lists Beryl in this edition

Finger Trouble

• Production: Finger Trouble Mark II, a satirical revue devised, designed, adapted and produced by Robert Kirby, a sequel to the original Finger Trouble, which had run at a Johannesburg nightclub and then moved to a theatre. Two back-projection screens carried slides. Sketches included the Professor Barnard number and a Gilbert and Sullivan parody.
• Venue: Langham Restaurant Theatre, Johannesburg.
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey and Beryl Ellis were two of the four players, with Robert Kirby and Elaine Lee, singing the ballads and duets. The caption calls them “two singers who can range further than merely folk music”. One review calls them “the delightful duettists, Aubrey and Beryl Ellis” and says “the Ellis’s duet harmonising is always a pleasure”; Bill Edgson’s review (“Kirby stones crowd with satire”) praises “several charming and meaningful ballads from Aubrey and Beryl”.
• Reviews: Edgson: weak first half, “came right the second half”, “bulging with talent”. The second, headed “Mixed grill with Robert Kirby”, was harder on Kirby but ends “laughs a-plenty, lots of original ideas and wonderful food”.

Aubrey and Beryl in Cabaret

• Production: Cabaret engagements including the Crazy Horse Saloon (Feb–May 1970), where the duo sing “The Chastity Belt”, which drew a censorship complaint (Hertzog). Also Operation Snowball and Kyalami Ranch (“Ian and Beryl”).
• The Ellis Contribution: 
  • Duo, and in at least one clipping (A&B 31) a trio with Ian Lawrence. Virgil Ellis says the three of them did cabaret for a long time before The Chastity Belt. The documented trio is Jester Minute (1972), a separate entry.1968); the Mayfair, Durban (Aug 1968); The Mark (Nov 1968); Colony Restaurant, Craighall Park (date unknown); Bretts, Salisbury, Rhodesia (date unknown).
• The Ellis Contribution: Duettists billed “Aubrey and Beryl Ellis” across all of these.

South Pacific

• Production: South Pacific (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
• Company: JODS (Johannesburg Operatic and Dramatic Society) 50th Anniversary
• Venue: Johannesburg Civic Theatre
• The Ellis Contribution:
  • Beryl Ellis: A standout performance of “Bali Ha’i,” staged as a silhouette against a backlit sunrise, utilizing the immense depth of the Civic stage.
  • Aubrey Ellis: Principal company member, contributing to the professional vocal power and theatrical scale of the anniversary production.

Aubrey and Beryl open Ye Olde Chastity Belt

• Production: Aubrey and Beryl Ellis open “SA’s 1st Theatre Restaurant”: dinner and a show, with late cabaret (Ian Hamilton at midnight). The opening play is George Bernard Shaw’s How He Lied to Her Husband, directed and produced by Joey Wishnia, with Wishnia, Ziona Garfield and Nicholas Ellenbogen, preceded by a Wishnia prologue, “G.B.S. The Man”. The restaurant was medieval in style, with serving wenches in period dress.
• Venue: 76 Noord Street (corner of Twist Street), Johannesburg: the premises of the former folk club The Troubadour.
  • The Ellis Contribution: Owners and managers. Beryl runs the cuisine and tells the Jewish Chronicle that the aim is “good entertainment coupled with good food in a setting of charm and intimacy”. The first piece calls it their first venture into the theatre-restaurant business and names Aubrey and Beryl as “most recently of Minstrel Scandals”. A telegram from the Adam Leslie Theatre and another from Joan and Louis wish them success.
• Early programme: A Victorian Music Hall and Melodrama evening, with Aubrey and Beryl among a cast of Joey Wishnia, Ziona Garfield, Jeffrey Shapiro, Gilyan Francesco (chairman), Jackie Kruger at the piano and George Korelin. Percy Baneshik reviewed The Wages of Sin (Andrew Sachs) here, praising Aubrey’s burlesque as Lord Peregrine Fortune-Mint and the pair’s “Love’s Old Sweet Song”.

Jester Minute Revised, Ronnie Domp joins

Timeline Entry: 1970s – Variety & Vaudeville

• Timeline Entry: 1972 – Jock McStrap in Jester Minute
• Performer: Ronnie Domp as “Jock McStrap.”
• Production: Jester Minute (Original Revue).
• Venue: The Dolphin Room, Blue Waters Hotel, Durban.
• Context: Captured in the December 8, 1972, Leyden caricature, this sketch was a standout piece of physical comedy in a show that the press called the “top satirical revue” in town.
• The Cast: Aubrey Ellis, Beryl Ellis, Ronnie Domp, and Aurora Gianchino.

King Aubrey at the Chastity Belt

• LNightlife Archive: Scope Magazine Feature (January 5, 1973)
• The Venue: An immersive banquet night at Ye Olde Chastity Belt, the groundbreaking theatre-restaurant co-founded by Aubrey Ellis in 1971.
• The Spectacular Act:
  • The fire dancer arches dramatically backward right across the dining tables, holding blazing torches high toward the vaulted stone walls.
  • In the foreground sits an overflowing medieval platter of fresh fruit, a dripping taper candle, and glasses of wine.
• The Guests & Characters:
  • Patrons are fully immersed, dressed in medieval velvet robes, hennins (steeple cone hats), and ruffs.
  • Seated on the right is a costumed character actor with a medieval hood/cowl and weathered makeup, grinning as the dancer leans into the crowd

Jester Minute 3

• Production: A new edition, “John Clarke presents”, with new material. Written and devised by Aubrey Ellis; directed by Aubrey for John Clarke. Cast: Aubrey, Beryl, Graham Clarke and Trish McKenna. Reviewers called it “a right merry meringue” (Cape Times), “fresh humour in revue” (The Argus) and “spontane kwinkslae deurslaggewend” (Die Burger).
• Venue: The Labia, Cape Town, from Monday 25 June 1973 (still playing for a final week in mid-July); Hotel Boulevard Winter Interlude Theatre, Pretoria, opening Tuesday 24 July and running to 11 August 1973; Blue Fox restaurant-theatre, Oxford Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg, from Tuesday 14 Aug 1973. By late September the cast at the Blue Fox included Ronnie Domp and Rosemary Dwyer, who had been in Aubrey’s earlier casts, and the run paused for a folk festival.
• The Ellis Contribution:
  •  Aubrey wrote, directed and starred, with Beryl. In Pretoria the cast was the Cape Town cast. Per Virgil Ellis, the family stayed at the Hotel Boulevard while he changed school.

Story of an African Farm

• Production: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner, adapted for the stage by André P. Brink
• Company: PACT (Performing Arts Council Transvaal)
• Venue: Alexander Theatre, Johannesburg — opened 16 October 1975, following a Pretoria season
• Director: Ken Leach | Décor: Richard Cook | Costumes: Frances Michaletos
  • The Ellis Connection: Beryl Ellis played a dual role — Mrs Fouché (the real-life farm mistress on whom the novel’s Tant Sannie was based) and Tant Sannie herself, in Brink’s structure, which interwove Olive Schreiner’s own biography with scenes from her novel.
• Critical Acclaim: Rand Daily Mail critic Raeford Daniel wrote that “Beryl Ellis’s Tant Sannie… is a delight,” praising a comic interpretation warmer than the original character and singling out the “opsit kers” courtship scene as a highlight. A second review, by David Carter, called her Tant Sannie “a fat folksy knockout.”
• Full Cast: Annelisa Weiland (Olive Schreiner/Lyndall), Errol Ross (Julius Gau/the Stranger), Beryl Ellis (Mrs Fouché/Tant Sannie), Diane Wilson (Rebecca Schreiner/the Landlady), Norman Coombes (Gottlob Schreiner/Otto), Dorothy Gould (Ettie/Em), Frantz Dobrowsky (Waldo), Michael Mayer (Bonaparte Blenkins), Nigel Daly (Gregory Rose), Denis Bettesworth (Piet van der Walt)

Adventures of a Merry Madcap

• Production: Children’s play written and directed by Janice Honeyman, music by Michele Maxwell, with Graham Clarke in the title role of Tyl, the madcap. Audience participation is a feature of the show.
• Venue: The Market Theatre, Johannesburg (main auditorium).
  • The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis is named among the actors in the “It’s playtime again!” feature (with Michael Irwin, Leonie Hofmeyr and Vanessa Cooke) and in a captioned photograph of the mealtime scene with Vanessa Cooke, Michele Maxwell and Graham Clarke. His role is not stated.
• Context: A second cutting says the first half would be screened on the SABC programme Compass, in a feature of about 17 minutes.

Don’t Drink the Water

• Production: Woody Allen’s comedy, directed by Brian Astbury (founder of The Space, Cape Town), his first production as a director in Johannesburg. Cast: Bill Flynn (Axel Magee), Chayela Rosenthal (Marion Hollander), Len Sparrow-Hawk (Walter Hollander), Sybel Coetzee (Susan), Danny Keogh (Krojack), Dale Cutts (Kilroy), Anthony James (Father Drobney), Bill Smale (Ambassador Magee, Sultan of Bashir, Kasnar), Patricia Cordes.
• Venue: The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, after a Cape Town run at The Space.
• The Ellis Contribution:
  •  Aubrey Ellis is the Chef, a small part. The review describes him as a Chinese chef “behind the raised eyebrows”.

The Sound of Music

• The Sound of Music (Brickhill–Burke / PACT return season, c.1977)
• Production: The Sound of Music, presented by Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke with PACT.
• Venues: The 3 Arts Theatre, Cape Town; His Majesty’s Theatre, Johannesburg; the Alhambra Theatre, Durban.
• The Ellis Connection;
  • Beryl as Sister Margaretta in the return-season programme.

Angel City

• Timeline Entry: 1979 – Angel City: The Shamanic Stage
• Production: Angel City (by Sam Shepard)
• Venue: Market Theatre (Upstairs), Johannesburg
• Director: Hilary Blecher
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis was singled out by critics for his mastery of Shepard’s complex, “jazz-orchestrated” dialogue.
• Critical Acclaim: Raeford Daniel (Rand Daily Mail) noted that Aubrey’s casting was “ultimately logical,” praising his ability to handle the “mesmerizing” and “drug-like” imagery of the play.

Aubrey plays Apollyon in Christian

• Timeline Entry: 1980 – Christian: The Design and the Devil
• Production: Christian (A Musical based on John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress)
• Book, Lyrics & Music: Nick Taylor
• Producers: NAPAC (Natal Performing Arts Council) in association with Brickhill-Burke
• Venues: Alhambra Theatre (Durban) followed by His Majesty’s Theatre (Johannesburg)
• The Ellis Contribution:
  • Performance: Aubrey played the standout role of Apollyon, the “bad, bad, baddy.” He was famously quoted saying villains were a “send-up” and easier to play because of their definite character.
  • Design: Beyond the stage, Aubrey was a key creative force behind the set and industrial design elements that defined the production’s visual scale.
• Historical Context: Christian was a massive home-grown success, opening at the end of 1979 in Durban and transferring for a gala premiere in Johannesburg in December 1980. It demonstrated Aubrey’s transition from “leading man” to a multi-hyphenate creative who could build the world he performed in.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

• Timeline Entry: July 1980 – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Production: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Sally Stewart’s first major production).
• Role: Aubrey Ellis as the “colourful” Willy Wonka.
• Venue: Bauman Hall, Durban.
• Festival: Part of the Durban Arts ’80 programme.
• The Review: The Daily News highlights Aubrey’s experience in children’s theatre, though he humorously admits that managing a cast of 35 “lively youngsters” could be “a bit hard on the nerves” [source: Daily News, July 16, 1980].
• Significance: Playing Willy Wonka is a dream role for a character actor with Aubrey’s physical range. The photo shows him in that signature top hat, perfectly embodying the whimsical, slightly enigmatic leader of the factory.

The Market Theatre

• Production: Evita (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice), the first South African production, by PACT. Directed by Geoffrey Martin; musical director Bill Fairley; choreography by Linda Papworth. Sharon Lynne and Jo-Ann Pezarro alternated as Eva, with Eric Flynn (Che) and Gé Korsten (Perón).
• Venue: State Theatre, Pretoria, and the Civic Theatre, Johannesburg.
  • The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis alternates with Alvon Collison in the role of Magaldi (the tango singer). Aubrey’s own 1986 programme biography lists Evita, and Beryl’s does too. Per Virgil Ellis, Aubrey and Alvon Collison alternated as Magaldi and Beryl was in the chorus

Oliver

• Timeline Entry: 1985 – Oliver!
• Production: Oliver! by Lionel Bart
• Company/Venue: The Baxter Theatre, Cape Town — opened 7 December 1985, running through the 1985–86 holiday season
• Director & Designer: Michael Burke | Musical Director: Peter McLea
• Principal Cast: Henry Goodman (Fagin), Marilyn Bennett (Nancy)
• Featured Cast: Peter Krummeck, Joey Wishnia, Aubrey Ellis, Brenda Wood, Lionel Newton, Don Maguire
• The Ellis Connection: Aubrey played Mr. Bumble

Pinnochio

• Timeline Entry: 1991 – Pinocchio (Story Spinning Theatre)
• Production: Pinocchio, written and directed by Rick Everett, music and lyrics by Pippa Duffy, based on Carlo Collodi’s story
• Venue: Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town
• Run: 30 September – 5 October 1991
• Cast: Aubrey Ellis (top-billed) as Gepetto, Bridget Wells as Pinocchio, Pippa Duffy as the Blue Fairy and Kitty Cat (stepping into the role originated by Pat Boothman), Liana Collet, Rick Everett (also played the sly Ferdinand Fox)
• The Ellis Contribution:
  • Aubrey Ellis received top billing in the starring credits, reinforcing his position as a cornerstone of the Story Spinning Theatre company well into the 1990s. As Gepetto, “the famous old Italian toymaker,” he was praised for “a wonderful rapport with his audience” — the reviewer described him bringing two young volunteers on stage to help search for Pinocchio, and at the performance reviewed, the children stole the show to the point where Ferdinand Fox felt obliged to refund the money he’d stolen.
• Critical Acclaim: Elmarie Shelley, “Pinocchio charms all over again” — praising Everett’s colloquial adaptation, original music and lyrics, and calling it “a colourful storyline packed with moral lessons,” enhanced by “beautiful costumes, clever lighting.”
• Significance: The poster is a good example of the company’s bold, graphic marketing style, and bridges the gap between Story Spinning Theatre’s earlier ’70s/’80s successes and their later Baxter-era work.

Snow White and Rose Red

• Production: “A fun-filled new musical based on the famous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm”, by the Story Spinning Theatre.
• Venue: Baxter Theatre, Cape Town; the notice gives the box-office number and says “on at the Baxter”.
• The Ellis Contribution: 
  • Aubrey Ellis is the friendly bear; Joey Wishnia is a dwarf (photograph caption in a holiday-activities column).

An Evening with Lerner & Loewe 

• Production: Musical compilation devised and directed by Rick Everett, a Gadabout Production for the Masque Theatre (“Sons of England”). Selections from Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, Camelot and The Little Prince. Musical director Brian Burke.
• Venue: Masque Theatre (programme gives no street or town).
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis as Alan J. Lerner, with Rick Everett as Frederick Loewe, Sheila Inglis and Mhairi Robson.
• Context: The third in Everett’s series after An Evening of Noel Coward and ’S Gershwin

Old King Cole

• Production: “The new Story Spinning Theatre musical”, written and directed by Rick Everett, toured schools in the Peninsula until the last day of term on 23 June.
• Venue: Waterfront Theatre, Cape Town; The Argus says it runs “until Saturday”, which is 9 July.
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis is King Cole. The Argus published Colin Daniel’s caricature of him in the role, playing a mandolin.

Pinnochio

• Timeline Entry: 1991 – Pinocchio (Story Spinning Theatre)
• Production: Revival of Pinocchio, written and directed by Rick Everett, music and lyrics by Pippa Duffy, musical direction by Brian Burke. Chireen Ferreira (Pinocchio), Liana Collet (Jiminy Cricket), Tracy Poole (Kitty Cat), Toby Frost and Pat Boothman (Blue Fairy), Elton John Duffy (Stromboli, per the photograph caption) and Rick Everett (Ferdinand the Fox).
• Venue: Baxter Theatre, Cape Town. The Argus of 8 August 1995 says it finished with 50 performances there.
• The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey Ellis plays Gepetto. The Cape Times (Jill Fletcher, 11 July 1995) says he “makes a delightful old Gepetto and matcho Stromboli”, with “good use of his fine voice”.