Donate
Contribute
  • About us
  • Contribute Content
  • Donate
Saturday, April 17, 2021
  • Login
  • Register
The African Theatre Magazine
  • Home
    • About us
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • People
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The African Theatre Magazine
  • Home
    • About us
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • People
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The African Theatre Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Joburg City Theatres Streams Gibson Kente’s ‘Too Late’ and Other Productions

Tonderai Chiyindiko by Tonderai Chiyindiko
June 7, 2020
in News
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterWhatsapp

As theatres and other public facilities remain shut due to Covid-19 restrictions, Joburg City Theatres which includes Joburg Theatre, Soweto Theatre and Roodepoort Theatre are pulling all the stops to ensure that theatre patrons remain entertained during the lockdown period by streaming a number of productions from their archive including Gibson Kente’s Too Late.

Widely acknowledged as Father of Black Theatre in South Africa, Gibson Kente’s Too Late is a one-act play providing a brutal and unadulterated snapshot of life during Apartheid’s heyday and focuses on the daily struggles for human rights, decency and dignity by the residents of an unnamed township. Issues like police brutality, crime, poverty were all too common and for Kente these stories needed to be told. Too Late was first performed in 1975 and promptly banned by the Publications Control Board due to its content which was unflattering to the authorities but the decision was later reversed. It was also Gibson Kente’s only published play.

See also: Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre Goes Virtual in Face of Pandemic

Students from the National School of the Arts in the production of ‘Tool late’ in 2019

The musical play was staged in 2019 at the Joburg Theatre to mark both the National School of the Arts’ 50th anniversary and South Africa’s 25th anniversary of democracy. As the marquee production during the NSA’s annual Festival of the Arts all the characters were played by students from the National School of the Arts and the play expertly directed by Joburg City Theatres Artistic Director, Makhaola Ndebele. This win-win partnership between the National School of the Arts and Joburg Theatre did not only allow the students to experience what it feels like to be part of a professional production but to also be on a professional stage.

See also: Incubator 7: POPArt’s Innovative Response to Covid-19

Through the Joburg City Theatres innovative archival content streaming programme accessible via all the theatres’ media platforms, Artistic Director Makhaola Ndebele believes that even after Covid-19 is over they will continue with the initiative and they are also working on adding more variety to the content by having strategic partners, Joburg Ballet and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra contribute their work. At the same time, they have also requested independent producers who have broadcast quality content recorded at JCT theatres to submit content so it becomes part of the streaming programme.

Students from the National School of the Arts in the production of ‘Tool late’ in 2019

As the theatre closures have affected revenues and many other aspects of the value chain, Makhaola Ndebele, the Artistic Director at Joburg City Theatres thinks that Covid-19 has “caused a global rethink, much of what we (Joburg City Theatres) have taken for granted has been changed and taken away from us overnight and we’ve had to adjust…. We have been hard at work trying to keep offering our patrons an exceptional content that they have become accustomed to, as we say in our business the show must go on”.

See also:10 Masterpieces in Ugandan Theatre

For Makhaola Ndebele and Joburg City Theatres “the future (after Covid-19) is likely to involve an increased online presence, and a more professionalised and targeted archiving process” and on a winder scale this is something the theatre industry will have to embrace and find ways of creating the ‘new normal’ which revives and revitalises the bruised and battered global theatre industry.

Too Late, written by Gibson Kente and directed by Makhaola Ndebele was available across all Joburg City Theatres platforms (Joburg Theatre, Soweto Theatre and Rodepoort Theatre) from 14-17 May and also currently 4 – 7 June 2020. The production was made possible through social investment support from the FirstRand Foundation through the RMB Fund for Education for a Creative Economy, the National Lotteries Commission, the National Arts Council, Business Arts South Africa and with the support of The Joburg Theatre, ASSITEJ South Africa and Tastic

Tonderai Chiyindiko

Tonderai Chiyindiko

Tonderai Chiyindiko is a part-time arts writer and contributor. He holds a B.A honours degree in drama from the University of Zimbabwe and a Masters degree in Applied Drama from University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He has been part and parcel of the theatre-verse both as an actor and director and more generally worked extensively within the cultural and creative industries sector in various capacities.

Related Posts

Once an Actress adapted and directed by Stanley Mambo performed by Charity Dlodlo (Photos by Michael Mambo)
News

Madsoc Theatre Reopens with Once An Actress

April 2, 2021
38
Locked Heart at Alexandra Theatre Academy's inaugural Current Affairs Theatre Festival
News

Alexandra Theatre Academy hosts inaugural Current Affairs Theatre Festival

November 8, 2020
195
Fela and the Kalakuta Queens directed by Bolanle Austin-Peters
News

Fela and the Kalakuta Queens Goes Online

September 26, 2020
200
Next Post
Namasagali College: How the School Became Uganda’s Arts Hub

Namasagali College: How the School Became Uganda’s Arts Hub

What people are saying

More Reads

  • People
  • Opinion
  • Festivals
  • Reviews

Popular Reads

  • Uganda's Theatre pioneer Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu

    Uganda’s Elvania Namukwaya who Broke the Glass Ceiling of Theatre

    794 shares
    Share 586 Tweet 87
  • Robert Serumaga: The Pantheon of Uganda’s Theatre in the ‘70s

    214 shares
    Share 86 Tweet 54
  • Namasagali College: How the School Became Uganda’s Arts Hub

    409 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 48
  • 10 Masterpieces in Ugandan Theatre

    565 shares
    Share 455 Tweet 46
  • Rose Mbowa of ‘Mother Uganda’ and Her Theatre

    321 shares
    Share 223 Tweet 41

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by @AfriTheatreMag

FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM

  • The African Theatre Magazine wants to know what
  • #OnTheAfricanTheatreStage this weekend. 🇿🇦

National Children
  • #OnTheAfricanTheatreStage this weekend. 🇿🇦

Joburg Theatre presents Macbeth performed by DNA Ensemble.

Date: 13- 21 April 2021 
Venue: Lesedi at Joburg Theatre 
Tickets call: 0861 670 670 or visit www.joburgtheatre.com 

#TheatreInSouthAfrica 🇿🇦
#TheatreInAfrica #gainwithmchina
  • #OnTheAfricanTheatreStage this weekend. 🇿🇼

Intwasa ARTS presents The Taking ‘Revisiting the Land issue’ written by Raisedon Baya amd directed by Memory Kumbata.

Date: 18th April 2021 
Live on Facebook.com/intwasa at 7PM 

#TheatreInZimbabwe 🇿🇼
#TheatreInAfrica
#TheTaking #play #zimbabwe #gainwithmchina
  • #TheatreTerm for this week is Fourth Wall. 
-

Follow us @afritheatremag
For more African Theatre content.

#TheatreInAfrica
#learn #Fourthwall 
#theatrememes #theatre #Africa  #theatrelife #gainwithmchina #acting #rehearsal #theatrenerd
  • #AfricanTheatreCompanies this week we take a look at Barefeet Theatre. 🇿🇲

Barefeet was founded in Zambia in 2006 by a group of Zambian artists, former street children, and Irish artists who met by chance (some would say fate). By working creatively and collaboratively together they began delivering theatre workshops which sought to empower and protect vulnerable children living on the streets of Lusaka. The workshops proved a great success and the founders soon realised the growing need for these vulnerable children to receive support, nurture, protection and guidance. From this Barefeet Theatre was born. Grace Tombozi Banda is the Executive director and Toanga Tembo is the artistic director. 

Since then, the Barefeet Theatre has grown organically into a vibrant, exciting and ground breaking non-governmental organisation (NGO) that uses play, creativity and empowerment to give vulnerable children in Zambia a chance at a better life. It now works with 40+ partner Children Centres in communities across Lusaka, as well as in other provinces across Zambia. 

By providing outreach programmes for children living on the streets of Zambia, barefeet elevates their lives and gives them life skills to carve a better future for themselves through theatre, performance, psychosocial support, creativity and self-expression.

Barefeet theatre not only do work with hundreds of performers from around Zambia who are specialists in their art forms, but also collaborates with artists around the world to create performances which are magical, professional and engaging and here are some of the productions performed by Barefeet over the years;  The Labyrinth (2013), Tujuka Must Die (2013), Oliver Twist Musical (2014), Wish Upon a Star (2015), A Midsummer Nights Dream (2016), The Emperor’s New Clothes directed by Adam McMguigan and Gift Chansa (2019), Empyre (2019). 

Images copyright © by Barefeet 
#TheatreInZambia 🇿🇲
#TheatreInAfrica 
#BarefeetTheatre #zambia #gainwithmchina
  • #OnTheAfricanTheatreStage this week. 🇿🇦
Joburg Theatre presents Macbeth performed by DNA Ensemble.

Date: 13- 21 April 2021 
Venue: Lesedi at Joburg Theatre 
Tickets call: 0861 670 670 or visit www.joburgtheatre.com 

#TheatreInSouthAfrica 🇿🇦
#TheatreInAfrica #joburgtheatre
  • #OnTheAfricanTheatreStage this week. 🇿🇦

National Children
  • Guilty? 👀😂
.
.
.

Follow us @afritheatremag
For more African Theatre content.  #TheatreInAfrica #TheatreMeme #thespian #costume #costumechange #auditions #Techweek
#director #directors #theatrememes #theatre #production #broadwaymemes #gainwithmchina #bway #musicalmemes #theatrelife  #acting #stagemanager #rehearsals #wandavision #thespians
  • This week the African Theatre #ArtistSpotlight is on Ahmed El Attar an Egyptian playwright, theatre director,  founder and artistic director of both the Temple Independent Theatre Company and Orient Productions. 🇪🇬

#TheatreInEgypt 🇪🇬
#TheatreInAfrica
#AhmedElAttar #gainwithmchina #Egypt #Theatre
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Become a partner/Sponsor our work. Email tuvugafritheatre@gmail.com

© 2019 - The African Theatre Magazine - Developer.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • People
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Donate

© 2019 - The African Theatre Magazine - Developer.

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In