Theatre is Dead! Long live Theatre!
Title
Theatre is Dead! Long live Theatre!
Department
Dance and Theatre
Keywords
Digital performance
Verbatim Theatre
Production Type
Fourth Year Student Production
Description
Theatre is Dead! Long Live Theatre! is a documentary theatre project by members of the 2021 graduating class at the Centre for Theatre Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town. This project, envisioned as a museum experience, responds to the National Arts Crisis and all the artists who took to their mediums to protest the major “funding irregularities” at the National Arts Council that have left artists in every discipline across the country without promised funding. Artists whose precarious livelihoods have already been severely impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic. Between what has been found to be “improper, corrupt, fruitless and wasteful expenditure” at the National Arts Council and a devastating global pandemic, it has been said that disciplines like theatre and performance are dead, having been dying for quite a while now, with smaller and smaller audiences and reduced funding possibilities. Those of us who make, frequent and support the theatre in all its guises know that this is fundamentally untrue.
This has also been proven through the remarkable interviews conducted by the students for this theatre project. Interviews with ordinary people about their complex and profound relationships with the performing arts. These (extra)ordinary people who gave so graciously of their time included a professional ballet dancer with an illustrious career behind her, a dog walker, a South African artist living outside the country, a local comedian, a matriculant, a tattoo artist, an IT specialist, a professional chef, and a 94-year-old veteran fighter pilot.
This museum-making project has delved into the archives of The Little Theatre on Hiddingh Campus, a so-called traditional theatre building, in which very many non-traditional events have been created, including this project. This work sits in a meeting of the archive and the contemporary, between the ‘dead’ and the very much alive, between the museum and the performance space.
Among the opportunities of this time is to ask ourselves what other surprising things exist where theatre and the digital meet. To ask ourselves if a virtual self-guided museum tour experience contradicts the essence of theatre, or if it in fact creates alternative avenues of access to performance work. The website that accompanies the live work is an experiment in a new merged space between an online experience and a live performance project.
In the spirit of the rare artistic solidarity demonstrated by the NAC protests, and by no small feat of timetabling gymnastics, this project has taken students out of their zones of comfort in their final year of study, and connected those studying dance, acting, theatre making and scenography together in this large collaborative creative endeavor.
This has also been proven through the remarkable interviews conducted by the students for this theatre project. Interviews with ordinary people about their complex and profound relationships with the performing arts. These (extra)ordinary people who gave so graciously of their time included a professional ballet dancer with an illustrious career behind her, a dog walker, a South African artist living outside the country, a local comedian, a matriculant, a tattoo artist, an IT specialist, a professional chef, and a 94-year-old veteran fighter pilot.
This museum-making project has delved into the archives of The Little Theatre on Hiddingh Campus, a so-called traditional theatre building, in which very many non-traditional events have been created, including this project. This work sits in a meeting of the archive and the contemporary, between the ‘dead’ and the very much alive, between the museum and the performance space.
Among the opportunities of this time is to ask ourselves what other surprising things exist where theatre and the digital meet. To ask ourselves if a virtual self-guided museum tour experience contradicts the essence of theatre, or if it in fact creates alternative avenues of access to performance work. The website that accompanies the live work is an experiment in a new merged space between an online experience and a live performance project.
In the spirit of the rare artistic solidarity demonstrated by the NAC protests, and by no small feat of timetabling gymnastics, this project has taken students out of their zones of comfort in their final year of study, and connected those studying dance, acting, theatre making and scenography together in this large collaborative creative endeavor.
Year Created
2021
Opening Date
12 August 2021
Closing Date
13 August 2021
Start Time
14h00
18h00
Performance Venue
Geographic Location of Performance
Cape Town
Producer
CTDPS
Director
Assistant Director
Dramaturg
Alex Middlebrook
Bailey Davidson
Daniella Alves
Freddy Nyezi
Garrick Pagel
Grace Matetoa
Jeff Brooker
Juliette Innes
Kayla Dunne
Matthew Dos Santos
Neo Mbamba
Smamkele Mentyisi
Zama Mkhize
Text By
Devised in collaboration with the 4th Year Actors, Dancers, Theatre Makers and Scenographers.
Cast
Abigail Avidon
Adam Fagan
Amy Greener
Bethany McLachlan-Evans
Bianca Lakey
Caitlyn da Aparecida
Cwenga Koyana
Dean Goldblum
James Stoffberg
Katherine Jones
Lernice Parker
Lisa Tredoux
Lyle October
Nana Bulabula
Nahum Hughes
Nomakhosi Meveni
Oratile Ndimande
Stian Oosthuizen
Sidne Barnet
Taylor-rose Bisset
Timothy Stadler
Vocal Coach
Set Designer
Alex Middlebrook
Daniella Mizrachi
Nancy Rademeyer
Tatum Cockcroft
Edited By
Zama Mkhize
Website
Linked resources
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| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
 Theatre is Dead! Long live Theatre! poster |
Poster | |
 Theatre is Dead! Long live Theatre! production album |
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