number 122 9f an edition of 1250, signed by leonard schach and donald inskip, published by Human & Rousseau, 1977, hardcover, illustrated, 126 pages, condition: very good.
Leonard Schach (19181996) was a South African theatrical director, producer and entrepreneur.
The National Theatre presented his production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at the Johannesburg Reps at the end of 1957. It was written by the Australian Ray Lawler, and starred Marjorie Gordon. Leon Gluckman returned to the Johannesburg stage in January 1958 in Schachs production of the American play, Career, at the Reps. Schachs Cockpit Players embarked on a lengthy Johannesburg run of four of their recent Cape Town successes in 1959. The first production was Long Day's Journey into Night starring Leon Gluckman. Next, Basil Warners Try for White opened at the Pretoria Opera House before moving to the Intimate Theatre for the remainder of their highly successful run. Leon Gluckman and John McKelvey went straight into Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lees prizewinning play Inherit the Wind, for which Leonard hired the Brooke Theatre. The fourth Cockpit Players production was Thornton Wilders lively period-New York comedy, The Matchmaker. This enduring show became the musical Hello, Dolly!.
David Beattie made his final appearance for Leonards satirical revue, Beyond the Fringe. He was a guest director at The Barn Theatre in the 1960s. His production of A Majority of One starring Sarah Sylvia and Frank Wise opened in January 1960. He directed Brendan Behans play The Hostage which was staged at the Intimate Theatre in 1960. Yet the YMCA committee for the Intimate refused permission to stage his Lock Up Your Daughters. His production of The Aspern Papers ran at the Playhouse (Cape Town) after their season at the Hofmeyr Theatre in 1960. Michael Redgraves adaptation of this Henry James story saw the British actress Flora Robson in the lead opposite Canadian actor Robert Beatty.
In December 1960 Schach announced he had signed a two-year lease with the Playhouse in Cape Town. His Cockpit Players maintained a high standard at the Playhouse in 1961 with Harold Pinters The Caretaker with Siegfried Mynhardt, Michael McGovern and Nigel Hawthorne, and Paddy Chayefskys prizewinning The Tenth Man, starring the same actors. His Cockpit Players did William Gibsons The Miracle Worker at the Playhouse in 1961, starring Reinet Maasdorp and Fiona Fraser. His musical revue called Something New, with John Boulter and British comedienne Beryl Reid opened in Cape Town in December 961, before going to Johannesburg early in 1962. He directed Harold Pinters The Birthday Party, followed by Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana which was staged at the Playhouse by the Cockpit Players in 1962. In his company of actors for these plays were Siegfried Mynhardt, Michael McGovern, Margaret Inglis, Marjorie Gordon, Diane Wilson and Kerry Jordan.
He left the country after his 1964 production of After the Fall because of restrictions placed on his work by the apartheid system. He settled in Israel, but returned frequently as a guest director. He came back to direct Shaws Heartbreak House for PACT at the Alexander Theatre in 1967, Tom Stoppards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for a Johannesburg Reps-PACT collaboration production in 1967, Aleksei Arbuzovs The Promise, A Month in the Country, for PACT at the Alexander Theatre in 1969, Lang Dagreis na die Nag in 1970. PACT presented two of his productions in 1971: the Paul Zindel play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds, starring Marjorie Gordon and Janice Honeyman; and In the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer starring John Hayter.
In 1965, he directed the opera Prodaná nevěsta for CAPAB, and in 1972, Don Giovanni for PACT. He directed Kennedy's Children for The Company (1975), the Pieter Toerien production of Peter Shaffers Equus (1975), Comedians at The Market Theatre in December 1976. His production of Comedians was one of the opening productions in the Market Theatre. It attracted a lot of attention from the censorship board. He subsequently directed a number of other plays for various managements in South Africa. His production of an Afrikaans version of The Diary of Anne Frank with Elise Hibbert was staged by PACT at the Alexander Theatre in 1977. He directed Die Wonderwerk (1978), Golda (1978), 'n Maand op die Platteland (1979), Da (1979), Macbeth (1980), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1981), The Dresser (1980). It was also staged at the Market Theatre in 1982 before enjoying a successful run in Israel. He directed 84 Charing Cross Road at the Market Theatre in April 1982, Beecham (1984), A Walk in the Woods (1989), A Walk in the Woods (1990). His Baxter Theatre production of Beecham was staged at the Civics Youth Theatre in Johannesburg in 1993..In 1994 Yours Anne opened in Cape Town. This was to be Leonard's last new production in South Africa before his death.
