Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
Post image 4
Post image 5
Post image 6
Post image 7
Post image 8
Post image 9
Post image 10
Post image 11
Post image 12
Post image 13
Post image 14
Post image 15
Post image 16
Post image 17
1 / 17
0

The iconic South African theater that took on apartheid

NPR·Kate Bartlett·6 months ago
#VuD0V9
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

Performers Percy Mtwa, left, and Mbongeni Ngema in a scene from "Woza Albert" at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1981. Ruphin Coudyzer/AP hide caption toggle caption Ruphin Coudyzer/AP JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—When it first started in the 1970s, South Africa's Market Theatre staged plays considered to be so subversive that it became a regular target of the apartheid government's zealous censors. Even the fact that its audiences were made up of Black and white South Africans mingling together was unheard of in a city where the law separated areas and people by race. The theater, established in an old fruit and vegetable market in central Johannesburg, was born at a pivotal time in "the Struggle" — the fight against the apartheid government. It opened its doors just days after the 1976 Soweto uprising changed the country forever. Youth took to the streets to protest schools teaching in the Afrikaans language and the ensuing government crackdown saw hundreds killed.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More