Help is at hand for one of Cape Town’s best loved institutions, the open air theatre in Maynardville Park, Wynberg, which has deteriorated over the years and is in need of an upgrade.

The Friends of Maynardville Theatre, a fundraising committee launched by Executive Deputy Mayor Alderman Ian Nielson on 9 December 2009, has been established to help raise funds for the City of Cape Town’s upgrade of the theatre, which will cost R15 million.

The need for the upgrade competes with hundreds of other calls on the City’s finances, including over 1 500 parks.

“The Friends is the result of the spontaneous public response to raise funds to carry out the upgrade,” said Councillor Owen Kinahan, chairperson of the Protea subcouncil. Councillor Kinahan will chair the committee.

"The committee is not only about raising funds, but harnessing friends and supporters," said Kinahan.

"Each year over 20 000 people are enriched by the experience of a live performance – many of them learners being introduced to theatre for the first time. I am convinced that there is a huge reservoir of goodwill and affection for the Maynardville Theatre and assistance of even the most modest kind will allow people to express that."

Maynardville Park is known primarily for its annual open-air performances of the works of Shakespeare. There has been a performance every year since the first production – ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ – in 1956. The theatre also became one of the few venues to escape the clutches of apartheid, as the audiences and performers were always multi-racial.

The upgrade plans include improving the theatre’s rake (slope of the theatre) and seating, safety measures, storage facilities, dressing rooms, lighting and sound infrastructure, foyer precinct and general landscaping.

The aim is to make the venue as sustainable as possible by making it available for many other kinds of performances and functions, Kinahan said.

There is a once-off subscription fee of R100 to join the Friends of Maynardville Theatre. People can stay on the mailing list for as long as they are interested in the plans and activities of the theatre. Further information can be obtained from proteasubcouncil@capetown.gov.za