The script is inspired by the courage and legacy of slain human rights defender Fikile Ntshangase, who was assassinated for her environmental justice activism to protect her community from a proposed coal mine in KwaZulu-Natal.

The story follows the tranquil village of Hlanzeka, where the bonds that knit this community quickly begin to fray when residents discover that their lives and homes lie directly in the path of a planned new coal mine. With courage and relentless faith, an environmental defender known as ‘Mam Nomsa’ (portrayed by Mpume Mthombeni) leads the charge against the land-hungry mine and fosters a fragile resistance to defend her home, history and ancestors. 

Churches, school halls, fields and kitchens become her battle grounds, while bees, birds, elephants and a faithful dog guide her way as she tries to unite her people against the destruction masked as progress that wears an all too familiar face. Worn down by the might of the system, soon the growl of machines reverberates across the same valley, poisoning the hearts and minds of the people of Hlanzeka along with their water and land. Her community, too, rejects her defence of their land, seeing her instead as standing in their way to prosperity.

“Her community,” states co-writer and director Neil Coppen, “are not united and she must confront corrupt traditional leaders, mounting threats to her family’s safety, and the bitter irony of being declared an enemy of the very people whose lives and land she is fighting to preserve. Joined by a puppeteered elephant matriarch called Ndlovukazi, their journeys pose urgent questions about who decides what progress looks like. What is the cost of development when the dead are displaced along with the living? And who becomes the ‘enemy’ when truth threatens power?”

The highly anticipated brand new production features an incredible cast of twelve, led by Mpume Mthombeni, Tony Miyambo, Billy Langa, Minenhle Skhosana, Zesuliwe Hadebe and Sabelo Sekgoto. It is co-written by Neil Coppen, Tony Miyambo, Mpume Mthombeni and Dr Dylan McGarry and directed by Coppen, with original music, score and choreography by Nhlanhla Mahlangu, set and puppetry design by Dylan McGarry and Craig Leo. Puppetry direction by Craig Leo, lighting design by Tina le Roux and sound design by Tristan Horton. Additional musical and sound elements by Guy Buttery.

Greg Homann, Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation, says this hard-hitting musical drama is set in KZN but bears profound resemblance of the 140-years-old history of Johannesburg, a city built on the gold rush, migrant labour towards the mines and forced removals to make space for industry.

“As The Market Theatre celebrates 50 years of bold storytelling, welcoming this strongly relevant play continues on our legacy as a  performance space renowned for being unafraid to take on difficult subjects in beautifully crafted theatrical ways, holding the powerful accountable and amplifying bold voices such as those of environmental defenders. We’re overjoyed that the production – with its strongly aligned themes – sits with us in our crucial anniversary year,” remarks Homann.

The play has been devised by the award-winning KZN-based company Empatheatre whose multiple Naledi Theatre Awards winning work “Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater” as well as “The Last Country” had a run at The Market Theatre in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

The theatre project is supported and made possible by The Naia Trust, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE),  Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), groundWork,  Rhodes University and the University of Southampton.

Don’t miss this bold new piece as it premieres at The Market Theatre. Tickets are available on Webtickets, with special prices for preview performances and half-price Wednesdays.

ENDS.

The Market Theatre is a Business Unit of The Market Theatre Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

 For reduced price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke (Audience Development) at AnthonyE@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950.

For media enquiries, please contact Bongiwe Potelwa (Publicist at The Market Theatre Foundation) at bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za or (011) 832 1641.

 After its premiere last year in Kosovo and North Macedonia, the work was hailed for being a “deeply complex” (Theatre Times) and “heartfelt piece” (SeeStage) that reimagines the theatre into “a new truth commission” (Kosovo 2.0), among other raving reviews. Following its world premiere, “Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept” now comes to South Africa for 10 compelling performances only, from 9 – 19 April 2026 at The Market Theatre. After its limited South African run, the production will then go on a much anticipated European tour to Norway, Italy, Germany, and Portugal, with more dates planned up until 2027 in New York.  

A bold take at documentary theatre, the play is written by award-winning Kosovar playwright Jeton Neziraj and directed by Blerta Neziraj, with Greg Homann – Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation – as dramaturg. South African performers Les Made, Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu, Kensiwe Tshabalala and Gontse Ntshegang join Amernis Nokshiqi (North Macedonia), Ilire Vinca (Kosovo) and Arben Bajraktaraj (Kosovo/France) to form a sterling cast. Collectively, though deriving from their unique national contexts, the cast and creative team unpack the complications of forgiveness, amnesty and justice. The work is presented in English, with Albanian and some South African languages. 

In 1990 in Kosovo, Southeast Europe, a group of former political prisoners, female students and intellectuals initiated a historical movement for blood feud reconciliation to stop the war on the horizon. By then, hundreds of Kosovar families were landlocked in blood feuds under the centuries-old customary code known as the Kanun.  

The Movement for the Reconciliation of Blood Feuds quickly transformed into a big national forum, with mothers, fathers and family members publicly forgiving the blood of their beloved to the murderer’s family. In total, over 1 200 blood feuds and conflicts were settled through this courageous process, with over half a million people recorded at the last public forgiveness meeting. 

In April 1996, the TRC first began its work, unfolding a deeply vulnerable and often contested process aimed at facilitating truth-telling, forgiveness and reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of apartheid-era crimes.  

The play connects and contrasts these events, and is presented at the same time as the ongoing Judicial Commission of Inquiry investigating allegations of political interference in the prosecution of TRC-related cases. Profoundly, this context anchors the work as a sharp commentary on collective trauma, nation-building and reconciliation. 

Playwright Jeton Neziraj shares that the production relies on the two historic processes in Kosovo and South Africa to explore important questions of why and under what conditions people forgive. “By analysing why and how people forgive, we also put forward for discussion the bigger question: under what circumstances is reconciliation possible, between people, between nations.” 

Greg Homann, Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation, shares that – for local audiences – the objective of the play is to reflect on the TRC without memorialising it.  

Homann continues, “The Market Theatre is drawn to stories that confront uncomfortable truths with nuance and imagination, while holding space for memory, justice and healing. With this work, we aim to revisit the TRC  process in counterpoint to an international and contemporary context. We are compelled to explore the lack of political will to finish the business of the TRC while simultaneously acknowledging the lingering trauma. Connecting the two nations’ processes offers a powerful opportunity to explore reconciliation not as a fixed destination but a deeply human and often painful journey shaped by who gets to speak, who listens and what is remembered.” 

Don’t miss this probing and playful piece that dives deep into the complexities of forgiveness and the parallel paths of restorative justice and retribution.  

Tickets for “Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept” are available on Webtickets, with special prices for preview performances, groups of 4-or-more and half-price Wednesdays. 

ENDS 

The Market Theatre is a Division of The Market Theatre Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.  

 For reduced price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke (Audience Development) at AnthonyE@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950. 

For media enquiries, please contact Bongiwe Potelwa (Publicist at The Market Theatre Foundation) at bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za or (011) 832 1641. 

The script – originally workshopped by Junction Avenue Theatre Company – is brought to life by a nine-member cast that features Sello Sebotsane (as Mabongo), Katleho Moloi (as Ginger George) and Gabisile Tshabalala (as Martha), to mention a few.

Staged in the 140^th year since Johannesburg was formed, the piece in 2026 presents an important reflection on the city’s unique cultural identity, artistic richness and movement of people. It looks into the introduction of recorded music and the exploitation of artists that followed, bearing rich reflection for the music industry, especially for up-and-coming musicians. This local classic further exposes the evils of the apartheid regime’s forced removals, which uprooted families from Doornfontein to Soweto in order to achieve its ideology of segregation.

Director Arthur Molepo calls the revival of “Marabi” during The Market Theatre’s landmark year a profound tribute to South Africa’s cultural heritage. “This is not just a classic story retold with a fresh voice and sound,” he explains. “It’s also an opportunity to bridge generations of artists, promote social cohesion and preserve our country’s musical heritage. This piece speaks to the power of music as a transcendent force, using rhythm to guide us back to our roots.”

For The Market Theatre, opening its 50th anniversary year with this uniquely South African work illustrates its proud legacy as the people’s theatre.

Greg Homann, Artistic Director at The Market Theatre Foundation, states: “Our 50th celebrations will be guided by our principles of fearless storytelling, shared ownership and programming that reflects our nation’s diversity. This work is a signature South African theatre piece that will be enjoyed by both our legacy audiences as well as new theatre-goers of any age, giving them access to a period that defined the soul of the city. It’s a perfect play to sit as our 50^th Anniversary season premiere, as we look back at the past and set the tone for the future.”

Homann further notes that just as marabi rose from the hardship of one of Johannesburg’s toughest spaces to become the city’s defining cultural sound and movement, The Market Theatre too was born in the wake of one of apartheid’s darkest tragedies: June 16, 1976. “We opened our doors in the same week as the Youth Uprising, which rooted The Market to a legacy of using artistic expression to resist oppression. It feels especially fitting, then, to begin our 50th-anniversary year with a production that celebrates how music and dance have shaped our social life and created a sense of home for generations of migrants navigating a fast-paced and unfamiliar city,” he says.

Get ready to start your year with a theatrical experience that reminds us of South Africa’s true gift to the world: the power of sound, movement and storytelling.

Tickets for the show are available on Webtickets via The Market Theatre’s website, with special festive season prices at R150 available till 11 January 2026. Reduced price bookings of 4 or more and half-price Wednesdays are also on sale.

Affordable, safe and secure underground parking is available at the Newtown Junction.

                                                                                                                                      ENDS.

The Market Theatre is a Division of The Market Theatre Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

 For reduced price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke (Audience Development) at AnthonyE@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950.

For media enquiries, contact Bongiwe Potelwa (Publicist at the Market Theatre Foundation) at bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za or (011) 832 1641.