It is directed and choreographed by Emma Crystal, with musical direction by Dr. Ashley K. Davis.

The show arrives at The Market Theatre as part of Black History Month, which marks its 100th year in 2026. The centenary calls for an honest reflection on memory, healing, culture, as well as the condition and position of Black bodies in an increasingly divided world. This milestone coincides with The Market Theatre’s 50^th anniversary, a powerful connection that presents a rich opportunity for representation and amplification of unheard voices.  

In addition, this month-long international engagement arrives in South Africa in the 70th anniversary of the historic 9 August 1956 Women’s March, putting a much needed spotlight on Black women’s struggles across the world and highlighting the shared challenges we face.

Playing alongside South Africa’s musical theatre classic “Marabi”, this curated season of musical work at The Market Theatre celebrates the influence of song and sound across the USA and South Africa in confronting injustice and giving oppressed people a vocabulary of resistance and hope. 

Founder and CEO of Hattiloo Theatre, Ekundayo Bandele, and Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation, Greg Homann, highlight the common histories between the two theatres in staging socially engaged works that prick at their respective nations’ collective conscience.

“From South Africa to the U.S., generations of oppressed people have sung their way up against discrimination, racism, subjugation and dispossession as an unstoppable wave. This year as we proudly present ‘Blues in the Night’ for its African premiere, we also celebrate music’s  ability to remind us of our shared humanity despite our fractured times,” shares Homann.

“The centenary of Black History Month finds us at a crossroad as a nation, as we interrogate the various histories that have shaped our democracy. In the local context, ‘Blues in the Night’ is a commemoration of the courage of the women of 1956, the fearless spirit of the youth behind the 1976 uprisings and the brave hearts who bared themselves open at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in pursuit of justice 30 years ago. As The Market Theatre celebrates 50 years of artistic excellence, it does so not only as a crucible for South African theatre, but also a stage that shaped the country’s cultural identity.”

Ekundayo Bandele is excited about the upcoming season in Africa. “Taking ‘Blues in the Night’ to The Market Theatre in Johannesburg is an incredible honour for Hattiloo. I’m deeply proud to share our work on an international stage and to create a moment where Memphis artists can carry our stories, our sound, and our spirit across the world,” he says.

This cultural intersection between the two socially conscious theatres will also see a South African production travel to Memphis this year for a season. This, states Homann, is in line with The Market Theatre’s approach to international collaboration, aimed at ensuring that partnerships benefit local talent.

Don’t miss this wonderful chance to enjoy the best of Memphis talent at The Market Theatre for a powerful celebration in February of music, history and heritage.

                                                                                                                                         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 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.

“Using the metaphor of a missing teddy bear, the show appeals to young audiences with a powerful message that breaks down an otherwise heavy topic to entertain and educate children. This production is a beacon of hope, a call to action, and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.  While the subject matter is intense, the production is crafted with care to ensure an engaging and thought-provoking experience,” said Andile Vilakazi.

The Market Theatre Kippies Fringe, which has delivered exceptional developmental works throughout the year, nears its glorious end with a number of productions scheduled for November. The month’s programming is themed around healing, reflection and renewal. This play continues to engage our collective conscience, interrogating how we treat the most vulnerable. Again, it offers affected people a moment to grieve and heal, while sharing educational information about children’s safety.

This is  a production that will leave audiences moved, inspired and motivated to act against South Africa’s worsening crisis of missing children.

Tickets are out on Webtickets for R100.

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Kippies Fringe is an initiative of The Market Theatre, curated by Art Cave.

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

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

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

Not only in love relationships but also in global politics and wars. I was drawn to the original play by Euripides because of the relevance of its themes, but also because of its heightened language, heightened emotion that tells a domestic story of love, betrayal and survival.”

Gerard Bester, Head of The Windybrow Arts Centre, adds that “Medea” presents a reframing of marginalisation, calling for deeper understanding of each other’s lived experiences. “The work forces us to engage, in the most visceral way, what desperation can do to us to create havoc and destruction to those close to us and ourselves. How poverty and finding oneself unwanted in a foreign land can lead to this destruction. The work demands understanding, empathy and compassion for humans who perform horrific acts under the most difficult of circumstances.”

“Medea” is a collaboration between The Windybrow Arts Centre, Kwasha! Theatre Company as well as Playgroup, a multidisciplinary art collective whose interest lies in how Johannesburg is experienced through sound. Chloe Whittstock designs set and costumes, Andile Mgeyi choreographs and Themba Mthimkulu designs lighting. The cast comprises Gofaone Bodigelo, Londa Mkhize, Thingo Mcanyana, Jack Mabokachaba, Natasha Dube, Malcom Moloi, Andile Ngoboza and Privilege Ndhlovu.

Tickets for “Medea” are available on Webtickets starting from R110, with special prices for groups of four or more. The recommended age for this play is 14+.

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

                                                                                                                                ENDS.

The Windybrow Arts Centre 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.

“This is a mischievous and vibrant look at South African society through the lens of all the weird and wonderful ways it could come to an end. The show uses dynamic and joyous ensemble storytelling, with bucket loads of physical comedy, puppetry and storytelling, to paint a vivid picture of the fallibility of humankind, as well as the resilience and creativity of the human spirit. The story leans into joy and tragedy. The idea of an apocalypse is a dark subject matter and framing, the story itself is not only about that. It’s a fun, silly platform to poke fun at contemporary society and take all the delicate bits of South Africa and satirise them,” explained Buckland.

Greg Homann, Artistic Director at The Market Theatre Foundation, said staging the production is an opportunity to celebrate the journey it has gone on, highlighted by winning the highest accolade in the National Arts Festival fringe programme – the Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award. Homann further stressed that the show is a family-friendly offering perfect for winding down after a long year.

Homann adds, “This is a show young and old should look forward to watching. Its youthful energy combined with imaginative storytelling make for an entertaining, relaxing treat best enjoyed with loved ones and in groups. It’s a wonderful work, with an impressive balance of dark and more bleak moments mixed in with joy and hope.”

If you are craving theatre that’s out of this world, then “Afropocalypse” is here for that. Travel to a time yet to come and immerse yourself in stories untold.

Tickets are available on Webtickets starting from R110, with special discounts for the preview performance, for groups of four or more, and with all Wednesdays at half-price.

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

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