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Emotional texture: Zilungile Mbombo, Mfuneli Ntumbuka and Alex
Sono. The script is sharp, witty and moving. Photos: Fiona MacPherson

‘Rise ’76’ confronts a generation haunted by how little it has done with its inherited freedom

A powerful and emotionally layered theatrical work revisits the 1976 Soweto Uprising through testimony, memory, contradiction and unresolved generational grief

Performance: Expect a mix of township storytelling, struggle songs
and emotional gut-punches that linger. Photo: Supplied

Gig Guide: Lehlohonolo Shale presents Call of the Revolution’s Children, Dada Masilo’s Hamlet at the Market Theatre and Welcome to Wrexham is back on Disney+

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Afro soul star: Berita will be holding a special Workers’ Day performance at The Market Theatre.

Berita’s ‘Echoes of The Soul’: A meditation on migrant workers

Berita’s Workers’ Day performance becomes a powerful meditation on migration, memory and xenophobia in a nation built through labour, movement and forgotten solidarities

Mirroring the past: At times, the actors in Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept step out of their roles entirely, debating the material they are performing, questioning its meaning or even its validity. It’s here that the play’s meta-theatrical dimension comes into focus. Photo: Thandile Zwebanzi

What does it mean to forgive? A play asks, 30 years after the TRC

Drawing from archives and lived experience, the international production probes the emotional and political complexities of reconciliation in a fractured world

Spirit leader: Zawadi Yamungu.

Zawadi Yamungu: The African Dramaturg

Blending jazz, folk and indigenous instrumentation, Zawadi crafts a sound that reconnects audiences to heritage while confronting the politics of the present

A powerful reflection on how Isitha Sabantu channels Fanon’s radical thought into a deeply political, emotionally resonant theatre of resistance and remembrance

‘Isitha Sabantu’: The new frontier for anti-colonial theatre

A powerful reflection on how Isitha Sabantu channels Fanon’s radical thought into a deeply political, emotionally resonant theatre of resistance and remembrance

Moving: Multi-disciplinary artist Aldo Brincat’s The Moon Looks Delicious From Here is a semi-autobiographical story.

Diary: Aldo Brincat at the Market Theatre, NYO Jazz releases new album and Kabza De Small set to release Kabza Chant 2.0

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Calvin Ratladi sees beyond the script, conjuring ghosts of land, legacy and loss in ‘Breakfast with Mugabe’

The world through Calvin Ratladi’s eyes

The playwright sees beyond the script, conjuring ghosts of land, legacy and loss in ‘Breakfast with Mugabe’

Andrew Buckland, puppeteer Craig Leo, Markus Schabbing, Michael K and Carlo Daniels in Life & Times of Michael K at the Market in Joburg

Puppets, prose and perseverance: JM Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K comes to life

The author’s classic is reimagined through puppetry in a powerful stage adaptation

Weighty matter: The Cry of Winnie Mandela, on at the Market Theatre in Joburg, explores how women handle the absence of the men they love.

A story of love, loss and resilience

A powerful reflection on women who wait – out of devotion, duty and often unrewarded hope

Issues: Botswanan artist and photographer Thero Makepe’s work Insurance, 2024 will be at his exhibition It’s Not Going to Get Better.

Diary: The realities in Botswana, A Month of Love and Fresh Met operas on South African big screens

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Support group: Michelle Rosewall and Rondean Hughes will perform at the Flatfoot Access Festival.

Diary: A feast of dance, musical blessings from the avant-garde, WGRUV Dance Company opens in Gauteng

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Critique: Musician Tumi Mogorosi (above) and poet Lesego Rampolokeng will be in MoRa at the Pan African Theatre Festival.

Diary: The Pan African theatre festival, Disney’s Aladdin Jr and two unmissable events in Durban

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Striking: Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero was choreographed by Gregory Maqoma.

Diary: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero, BMW Art Generation, live scores to silent films

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More than history: A scene from Katanga, January 17, which tells the story of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Oupa Bopape)

Actors carry Lumumba’s story in their bones

Katanga, January 17 is a recounting of martyr for African unity Patrice Lumumba’s life

Voices: The Ndlovu Youth Choir is coming to Joburg and Cape Town.

DIARY: Ndlovu Youth Choir tours SA, art at the Southern Guild, The King of Broken Things

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Stark: Paul du Toit’s The Unlikely Secret Agent

A very strange world …

Sparse, powerfully acted play brings the lives of anti-apartheid activist couple to the stage

Theatre luminaries, David Dennis, Michael Richard, and Zane Meas lead the cast alongside Astrid Braaf, Ziaphora Dakile and Melissa Haiden. They are guided by The Market Theatre’s award-winning Artistic Director, Greg Homann, who is celebrated for his cutting-edge direction of new South African work.  The production is designed by Lisa Younger with filmmaker Xolelwa ‘Ollie’ Nhlabatsi bringing a dynamic multi-media element to the production. Photo by Suzy Bernstein

Columnist Calland captures state capture for stage

A new play by a new playwright explores shenanigans in South Africa’s politics

KEMPTON PARK, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 15: Dr Mbongeni Ngema during the Black Musical Extravaganza at the Theatre of Marcellus on September 15, 2023 in Kempton Park, South Africa. World-acclaimed writer, lyricist, composer and film producer Mbongeni Ngema officially launched his new EP Thina Bant Abamnyama.  (Photo by Oupa Bopape/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Mbongeni Ngema dead, but his legacy will live on

Ngema’s flaws should not overshadow his remarkable contribution to South African cultural history This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free…

South African actors John Kani (left, as ‘Creon’) and Winston Ntshona (1941-2018, as ‘Antigone’) perform at the final dress rehearsal of the Market Theatre of Johannesburg/Royal National Theatre revival of Athol Fugard’s ‘The Island’ at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, New York, New York, March 31, 2003. Kani and Ntshona co-authored the play with Athol Fugard in 1973. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)

Market Theatre needs funding as audiences, donor support decline

Patrons have not returned to theatres in their numbers after the Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted.