In the charming town of Prince Albert, The Showroom, a new theatre, opened her doors last November. The 150-seater incorporates Philips Selecon Profiles and Fresnels, Philips Strand 200 Plus control and dimmers, Le Maitre Hazers and Longman F1 LED Parcans.
The project was the initiative of residence filmmaker, Johnny Breedt and his business partner, Charon Landman. Significantly, Breedt had worked on the movie adaption Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom, and of course the movie’s release, the death of South Africa’s beloved Nelson Mandela and the opening of The Showroom, all coincided within days of each other.
It’s not every day someone decides to establish a new theatre, and as far as locations are concerned, there could not be one more breathtaking or remote.
Johnny Breedt describes the series of events that led him to finally own his own theatre; something which he says has been a life-long dream.
“Years ago I did a film in the Karoo with Katinka Heyns entitled Paljas, and I had travelled through Prince Albert during that time and felt this place was special,’ said Breedt. “Little did I know that I would end up living here sixteen years later. At first my wife Yvette and I used to come here on our annual holiday once a year if we were lucky. When we finally decided to move to Cape Town, due to my work commitments, we changed the plan slightly and opted to relocate to our holiday home instead. Geographically this made sense as it was close to Cape Town and Yvette was able to start her own business here. The country life was really what we were longing for and Prince Albert suddenly made a lot of sense for our new home.’
Breedt trained in theatre design and qualified at the Tshwane University of Technology, but had to go straight to the army after completing his studies. “Here I discovered film when I was drafted into the Film Unit and my career took on a new direction. After working in the film industry for 25 years, I finally decided that I wanted to explore my passion for owning a theatre.’ His career also included working at the State Theatre, the Breytenbach Theatre and Alexander Theatre. He was the production designer for the heartfelt and sobering award-winning film, Hotel Rwanda and the TV series No1 Ladies Detective Agency.
“Prince Albert seemed the perfect place as it had very little in the form of performing arts and entertainment for the local residents, he says.’ So he aptly went about buying some old theatre chairs and second hand equipment, bought a property in the industrial area and planned to erect a second hand steel building there, which he had purchased in Johannesburg. “Charon Landman, a local businesswoman who was formerly from Johannesburg, asked if she could be involved with the theatre and so a new partnership was formed.’
They pooled their resources and ideas together and when the current premises went on the market, which happened to be a former restaurant, they knew they had found the right location for the theatre.
“Charon comes from a successful construction background and so she understood the concept of design and project management,’ said Breedt. “Along with my technical and creative background as a film production designer, we made a formidable team. Charon trusted my creative input and I relied heavily on her business acumen. We are both leaders and “control freaks’, but we seldom differed on anything. Charon was also an inspiration to the team of workers who tackled this project and her positive energy was important during the construction phase of this project.’
Needless to say, the busy activity on site was noted by the local residents. Linda Jaquet wrote an article in The Prince Albert Friend, the town’s community newspaper, “There is a great deal of curiosity about the current makeover of what used to be Celestino’s restaurant on Church Street,’ the story opened, and she went on to explain that the family favourite restaurant that fronted a cavernous storage area was to be transformed into The Showroom, a theatre with full cinema surround sound, live acoustic sound and state-of-the-art theatre lighting.
Breedt came across DWR Distribution through one of his former university lecturers. “She put me onto a couple of companies, one of which was DWR. Here I found Dave Whitehouse who went out of his way to accommodate our needs. Dave met with us at DWR and did a full demonstration of the equipment he was proposing. Thereafter he flew down for a weekend and did a full inspection of the premises.’
After supplying a suitable equipment list and agreeing on a price, the installation commenced. “The team from DWR descended on the Karoo and were absolutely brilliant,’ said Breedt. “Led by Eazy Moeketsi, they worked through the night and finished the installation in a short period. During this time they also installed dimmable LED house lights and gave us in-house training.’
