You’re invited to the Market’s 30th bash.
6 days left to catch In Continuum if you haven’t already… But the Market is turning 30 and we know that that must mean BIG CELEBRATIONS…. They have pulled out the stops to put on a great bash for all the Market people – and we mean EVERYONE is catered for. Guys lets celebrate the arts and FILL UP every single one of these shows!
Do yourselves a favour and meet your friends for drinks at t…
he very sexy and stylish Capello’s on the other side of the Newtown square from the Market – there is safe underground parking (if you’re worried) – it’a great place to chillout on a pavement and watch the city wind down – then stroll over the square to the theatre to watch your show… here it is:
Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo, Busi Mhlongo, Freshlyground, Pieter Dirk Uys
Really Brilliant Market Shows
Globally revered musicians prepare to ignite stage during The Market Theatre’s 30th Anniversary Celebration!
Johannesburg: There’s only one place to experience the thrill of three internationally revered South African acts – and that’s at the upcoming 30th Anniversary celebrations for The Market Theatre.
Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo and Freshlyground are all flying high on the global music radar, with Masekela and Khumalo having just come off critically acclaimed, sold-out international tours and Freshlyground eyeing a takeover of the nation’s music scene with their spunky, soulful Afro fusion sound.
Hugh Masekela and his band take to the stage for three nights of unrivalled jazz music, on Thursday, 8th June, Friday, 9th June and Saturday, 10th June at 8pm. This will be Bra Hugh’s first performance back in South Africa having just returned from three sell-out, back-to-back international tours of Europe, the States and Middle East which saw the trumpeter, singer, songwriter and performer earn critical acclaim. Masekela will be accompanied by his enormously accomplished and impressive band featuring Sell Minted (drums) Macanese Cokato Hendricks Molina (keyboards), John Blockier Sallyanne (drums), Arthur Tshabalala (keyboards), Abiding “Fauna” Zulu (bass), and Ngenekhaya Mahlangu (saxophone).
Sibongile Khumalo is similarly an artist of international repute and fresh off an international tour. She is already brewing up a musical firestorm for her three dates with Gloria Bosman and the Afro Tenor. This once-off collaboration is where classics music meets for a unique evening’s entertainment. of SA where the classmusic thrown in to spice things up and takes place on Tuesday 13th June, Wednesday, 14th June & Thursday 15th June at 8 pm.
Freshlyground is undoubtedly the contemporary music success story of the past year – theirbreakthrough album, ‘Nomvula’ unleashing the hits ‘Doo Be Doo’ and ‘I’d Like’, and acting as a spectacular calling card for an impending international tour. But it’s on stage that Freshlyground really cooks and fans of the group can see just how they work in collaboration with the Afro-soul sensation, Simphiwe Dana who will join the group for two unique shows on Friday, 2nd June and Saturday, 3rd June at 8 pm.
On the theatrical side there will be a rare chance to see the inimitable Pieter Dirk Uys perform in a venue that he called home from the time it opened its doors in 1976 to 1990 in a show specially written to commemorate the Market Theatre’s 30th birthday – PIETER-DIRK: EISH!!
Tickets for all the shows are available from Computicket now!
Freshlyground & Simphiwe Dana – Friday, 2nd June & Saturday, 3rd June @ 8 pm
Pieter Dirk Uys – ‘PIETER-DIRK : EISH!! ‘ – Tuesday, 6th June & Wednesday, 7th June @ 8 pm
Hugh Masekela and his Band – Thursday, 8th June, Friday, 9th June & Saturday, 10th June @ 8 pm
Sibongile Khumalo, Gloria Bosman & The Afro Tenor – Tuesday 13th June, Wednesday, 14th June & Thursday 15th June @ 8 pm
Drakensberg Boys Choir -Friday, 16th June & Saturday, 17th June @ 8 pm
Johannesburg Festival Orchestra with Prince Lengoasa & Angela Kerrison and Nicholas Nicolaidis – Tuesday, 20th June @ 8 pm
The Bala Family featuring Zwai Bala and Loyiso Bala – Wednesday, 21st June @ 8 pm
Busi Mhlongo & Jabu Khanyile – Thursday, 22nd June, Friday, 23rd June & Saturday, 24th June @ 8 pm
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May
On Friday night I went to see one of the most captivating plays I have seen in a very long time. When people asked me what I was up to that night and I said I was going to see a play about HIV/Aids there were many sighs and grunts and people pulling their noses up. People felt sorry for me that I would have to sit through something so emotionally morose and overdone.
Have we come to that stage in South Africa when we have taken every topical issue like apartheid, poverty, crime and HIV/Aids and churned it out like a moral lesson to the public at every turn and all in very much the same way?
Which is precisely why this play was so astounding. There are 2 characters in all – an African-American schoolgirl (Nikkole Salter) and a Zimbabwean wife and mother (Danai Gurira) and their stories are told in parallel portraying how Aids in any black culture, first or third world wreaks the very same havoc and holds the very same taboos associated with having and obtaining the virus.
The story is a tragic one, one I suspect to be a common in communities, which was portrayed in a very raw and honest way. The characters are bold and real and I became fond of them.
Both actresses are the best I have seen in an extremely long time! I was so utterly impressed that I’ve been telling everybody I see that they must go and witness it for themselves – even if they see it for no other reason than to witness the amazing talent of these two ladies.
But what was astounding was that I didn’t feel like I’d “heard this one before” and I was captivated as the drama unfolded.
To call it drama would not be entirely accurate. I laughed often and much as I related to the characters, their ups and their downs, with humour scattered amidst the tragedy like a marble cake. What a fantastic combination.
My warning is only this – the play is a long 2 hours on a hard bench at the Laager Theatre at the Market Theatre in Newtown but it would probably lose its oomph if they had an intermission.
Some felt that the scattered laughter during heavy parts was inappropriate but like life, you also laugh to lighten those times. “Sometimes laughing’s all you can do to keep from crying…” Others felt that the way the women were portrayed, pigeon-holes them and propogates well-oiled stereotypes but I think these stereotypes are quite representative of our reality. The play was delivered with an honesty which I think that the victims of HIV/Aids will not be able to achieve in their communities for a long time to come.
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Here’s more info from the Market:
Primary Stages, in association with the Perry Street Theatre, Patrick Blake and Cheryl Wiesenfeld, proudly announce the worldwide tour of the hit play In The Continuum, written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter and with direction by Robert O’Hara.
The first stop on this international theatrical expedition is the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Harare Zimbabwe on April 28 and 30, 2006. The production will then play at the Baxter Sanlam Studio for a limited engagement from May 3 – 5, 2006 whereafter it travels to the Market Theatre in Johannesburg before embarking on the North American leg of the tour. In The Continuum received its World Premiere in September 2005 at Primary Stages in New York City, subsequently moving to the Perry Street Theatre in November 2005.
In The Continuum dramatizes the devastating problem of AIDS among African and African-American women – a timely topic, both globally and in South Africa, and an egregiously overlooked problem that is only now getting the attention of the international media. Living worlds apart in South Central, Los Angeles and Harare in Zimbabwe, two young women experience a kaleidoscopic weekend of darkly comic life changing revelations. With the two playwright/actors playing dozens of roles, In The Continuum envelopes the audience in its story of parallel denials and self-discoveries. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times declared that In The Continuum was one of the highlights of the fall Off -Broadway season. Moving, smart, spirited and powerfully funny, In The Continuum pulses with life from start to finish”. The play, recently named as one of the Best Plays of 2005 and rated as one of the top three plays on Broadway by New York Magazine, has been widely praised by critics who have called it “fiery, intelligent and comedic” (The New Yorker); “a subtle, smartly staged piece” (The Village Voice); “a must-see event!” and “earthy and startlingly funny” (The Wall Street Journal).
Primary Stages is a non-profit Off Broadway theatre company situated on the Upper East Side of New York City with a mission to produce new plays and nurture the development of emerging and established playwrights. Over the years Primary Stages has received considerable critical acclaim and numerous theatre and literary awards such as the Outer Critics Circle Award and several Drama Desk Award nominations. Says Primary Stages Artistic Director Andrew Leynse, “In The Continuum began as a special offering by playing only two nights a week at our theatre on East 59th Street and then, after its powerful reviews, transferred to the Perry Street Theatre for a thirteen week run. I cannot think of a more fitting ambassador for Primary Stages than this show as it is a play that comes directly out of our mission to champion young writers and bring their work to the forefront of the community”.
For Martin Platt the co-producer, coming to South Africa (and Zimbabwe) with In The Continuum is the fulfilment of a dream of both the authors and the production team. “It is especially meaningful for me as a co-producer, as I have a long professional relationship with both Mannie Manim at the Baxter and Malcolm Purket at the Market and we hope that the play will have as huge an impact on SA audiences as it has had in New York,” he said.
In The Continuum will be performed in the Baxter Sanlam Studio from May 3-5, 2006. Performances are at 17h30 and tickets are R60 throughout. For seniors, students and bookings of ten or more, tickets will cost R45 each. Bookings are through Computicket or 083 915 8000
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SOPHIATOWN
Market Theatre
29 Aug – 9 Oct 2005
I was lucky enough to be at the opening of ‘Sophiatown’ at the Market Theatre on Friday 2nd of September. Directed by Malcolm Purkey who is a founding member and director of Junction Avenue Theater Company, one of South Africa’s leading workshop theatre companies and who currently holds the position of Artistic Director of the Market Theatre. He did a remarkable job.
The talented cast is made up of:
Ashley Harvey as ‘Ruth’: The white Jewish girl who decides to go behind her parents back and move to Sophiatown, causing quite a bit of talk amongst the town people.
Lucia Mthiyane as ‘Princess’: The beauty Queen of the show, who is in an abusive marriage with ‘Mingus’ the gangster from a one of the notorious gangs in Sophiatown.
Arthur Molepo as ‘Mingus’: The smart dressing, sweet talking gangster of the play. He is representative of the typical tsotsis of old who I feel played a huge role in making Sophiatown the place it was.
Wayne van Rooyen as ‘Charlie’: Charlie is a coloured boy , Minguse’s sidekick. The “push over” type that would do anything that Mingus desired. He speaks when spoken to and later proves to be quite funny.
Sello Sebotsane as ‘Fafhee’: He is just another dude in the neighborhood who has his eyes open and his ears glued to the streets for any word. He is a great actor I saw him last at the market theatre in a play called “Who really freed Nelson”, I thought he kicked ass!
Nandi Nyembe as ‘Mama’: Mama is the typical Shebeen owner in Kofifi, who sits and knits all day long and by night runs her illegal shebeen.
Nombukani Dangazele as ‘Lali’: She plays the kid in the house, and is really funny. The humor mostly comes from the pronunciation of certain words. Her role was very powerful because it is the innocent voice of the story.
Lastly Siyabonga Twala as ‘Jakes’: he plays Mr Drum in the play who documents the daily goings-on of Sophiatown and who is in constant denial of his affection towards Ruth the White girl because he refuses to be in a relationship that could put him at risk.
The most brilliant aspect of this play is its wonderful script. It has gags for days, it really is funny and I think that it is important that especially with topics like Sophiatown, because we have heard this story before, it is really important to give the audience the opportunity to laugh. It really allowed you to laugh; it wasn’t those heavy plays where you walked out hating your white friends for the rest of the night.
The story itself is made up of bits and pieces of what it was like really in living in that place. Did I mention that it was a musical in its own right; the songs are also great and serve to add to the humor of the play.
I was sitting next to an old colored lady during the play and she kept nodding and agreeing with some of the things the characters would say. At some point she wiped her eyes and I was very touched because you could see that she probably lived there in Sophia and the play just took her back.
I loved this play it was a very good night out, even for a Friday night, it was worth it!
