HISTORY

While the Capital of Port Louis was still under construction, at the time when Mauritius was governed by Mahé de Labourdonnais, the bourgeoisie of the island was requesting for a theatre. The local amateur groups used to perform in a simple rectangular warehouse, in which the performers and the Public were at the same level. It was situated at the Jardin de la Compagnie (actual place of the Cinema Majestic).

Things moved fast under the British Rule as the first Governor, Sir Robert Farquhar, was a connoisseur of lyrics and theatre.

Governor Farquhar decided to build the theatre in the very centre of the Town; the site he dedicated for the theatre used to be a plot of land occupied previously by the Market, at a few yards behind the Government House and the famous Place d’Armes and at a few yards of the Town Hall of the City.

For the first theatre of the southern hemisphere, Farquhar wanted the same standards as those of the Capital Cities of Europe. He then chose a French Architect named Pierre Poujade and for the interior decoration a French decorator, Pierre Tuilliet. Thirteen years after the opening of the theatre, in 1835 the engineer Vandermeersch will re-paint the ceiling dome of the theatre with a splendid painting in homage to the great opera composers.

The first stone of the Theatre was laid in the year 1820 and the inauguration took place in 1822 with 2 performances, the Comedy: " La partie de chasse d’Henry IV ” and the Opera: “ La maison à vendre ”.

From its opening to its closing, the Port-Louis theatre had received, during the annual season, many foreign troops in tour in the Indian Ocean as well as local amateur performances. Among the numerous plays and lyrics (mainly in French), let us summon : La Dame Blanche, Guillaume Tell, La Bohême, Norma, Le Barbier de Séville, L’Africaine, Le Trouvère, Rigoletto, La Juive, Aïda, Samson et Dalila…

In the theatre, the worse places were the highest ones, those around the ceiling which are named in French “le poulailler” and in English “the Gods”. It is said that the bourgeoisie had accepted that their coachmen assist to the performances in the Gods. But as it was unconceivable, at that time, that those people cross the main Entrance Hall of the theatre. Then, one of the lateral doors was used by them to reach by the back staircase to the Gods. This can be considered as the first democratization of theater and lyrics among the lower classes of the population of the Island.

In the year 1854, the Municipal Council of Port Louis took possession of the theatre and is still today, the owner of the building and the Authority responsible for its maintenance.

Each year on the 14th of July, the Bastille Day was celebrated at the Port Louis Theatre. The 14th of July 1889 had been a special Bastille Day as it was the centenary of the French Revolution. In Paris the celebration was marked by the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower. In Port Louis, the Mauritian engineer Mr. Summeire had built a miniature of the Eiffel Tower of 15 meters high, placed nearby the Theater. The Police Band took place under the tower to play the British and French National Anthems, and inside the theatre, a famous local Actor, Jules Rouhier, performed solo a play of the Creole Author Fernand Duverger.

When the Mauritian Railway had been created, it became the main means of transport for the middle and low class of the population, particularly the population of the Plaines Wilhems. To permit to the public to attend, special night trains had been made available to return home on the days of performances.

With the increase of the population and of the Public amateur, in 1933, 111 years after the opening of Port Louis theatre, a new theatre was inaugurated, the Plaza Theatre, situated in the Centre of the Town of Rose-Hill. The new Theatre, built with the same amenities and an “a l’italienne” space arrangement as its grand brother but in addition a big Ball Room and in the front a beautiful garden.

Many cyclones which visited the island damaged the theatre leading to its closure. Epidemics also forced the Authorities to postpone the tours of foreign companies and even to forbid local Amateurs performances. During the World War 2(WW2), the theatre’s doors remained closed for 7 long years. But each time the theatre reopened for a new beginning.

During the 40s and 50s, an Actor and Opera Singer Max Moutia, has animated all the shows. Performing the most popular plays, operas and operettas of the repertoire with his local company (sometimes mixed with foreign famous actors, singers and musicians), with the police Band under the baton of the Conductor Philippe Ohsan, Max Moutia has enlarged the public of the theatre to the emerging middle class of the country, and that, in spite of the competition of the cinema which was developing all over the island at the same period.

When the Country gained its Independence in 1968, the Theatre started performing plays and musical comedies and comic operas in National Creole language. Two examples: “ Tizan Trankat Korde” in 1975 with, in the principal role, Gerard Manuel and in 1981, “Zozef ek so palto larkansiel”. Both were a success, the last one was played 40 times with all the tickets being sold each time.

Other utilizations: During the years 50s and 60s, the Theatre hosts meetings of the sections of the Alliance Française of Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius and in 1973 the Theatre hosted the Summit of the Head of States of OCAM (Organisation Commune Africaine et Malgache).

In the 1970s the Municipality of Port Louis had the idea of converting the theatre into a cinema hall, but artists and conservators such as Gerard Barry, were against this decision and it was abandoned.

In 1983 the Municipality decided to proceed to a renovation of the Theatre. With the architects Wellington Lam Po Tang and Gaetan Siew and to the financing of the Mission Française de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle”, the work has been executed.

The Authors of this Blog were not born.

21 years after, in 2004, the bad state of The Theatre forced the authorities to close it.

Since then and in spite of the good health of the national Economy, the funds to restore the building have never been found.