Isitha Sabantu
A fictional tale inspired by real-life South African eco-defenders, Isitha Sabantu follows two grandmothers – one elephant, one human – as they fight to protect their families and land from corruption and extravism. Brought to life by the award-winning company, Empatheatre, and featuring an all-star cast and creative team, the work blends research, poetry, puppetry, music and myth to explore courage, community and our deep connections with the land and our ancestors. Empatheatre’s highly anticipated new work, Isitha Sabantu, is a story of courage, interdependence, and the love that binds humans, ancestors and other beings to the land.Inspired by the lives of real South African eco-defenders, the play follows Nomsa, a grandmother resisting corruption, and an elephant matriarch protecting her herd, as the land they inhabit changes through fences and mining.Their intertwined journeys explore land rights, extractivism, ubuntu and what we sacrifice to protect our homes. Blending puppetry, poetry and music, the play invites audiences to a world where justice is more than a legal ideal – it is a deeply ecological, spiritual, and communal practice.
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 140th 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 50th 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.