Athol Fugard - Photo by Martha Swope.
Believed to be the largest-standing black theatre company in the world, Isango Portobello was formed in 2007 by South African born producer Eric Abraham, opera star Pauline Malefane and theatre and film director Mark Dornford-May. In 2008 the company won a coveted Olivier Award for its production of The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo in London’s West End. The company won the 2005 Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear Award for Mark Dornford-May’s film U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, based on his stage production of Bizet’s Carmen.
Isango Portobello Producer Eric Abraham announced that he currently building a new theatre for the Isango Portobello Company in the heart of Cape Town. The new theatre is to be called The Fugard and is located in the District Six area, in the Sacks Futeran Building, which is owned by the District Six Museum. An opening date has been set for January 2010.
Athol Fugard has written a new play which he will direct and which will form part of the opening season of The Fugard. Eric Abraham said “Athol Fugard is an international giant of drama who has over half a century created iconic South African plays featuring narratives of all of its people, black and white. At the end of the fifties, at the height of apartheid, he was a cultural pioneer who wrote and directed plays for black actors about the lives of black South Africans. His work has been a source of inspiration to me in underwriting and producing the Isango Portobello company. We are deeply honoured that Athol has agreed to let us name our theatre after him.”
A new addition to the Isango Portobello team, Mannie Manim, a much garlanded mainstay of South African theatre, will join The Fugard in January following his retirement as CEO of Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre in December. Having been both a long-term supporter of the Company and Lighting Designer for all its productions to date, Mannie will work with the Company in developing and programming The Fugard.
Mannie Manim said “I am very excited to be involved in the building of a new performance space in this historic site and look forward to working with the Company, which I regard as one of the most positive developments on the Performing Arts Scene in this country for a long time. I am also very pleased that this venture will be honouring South Africa’s leading playwright who, over the last five decades, has written a number of great plays, recognised as modern classics worldwide.”
Principal performer and founding member of Isango Portobello, Pauline Malefane said “It is hugely exciting for Isango Portobello to be moving into our own home. Thanks to Eric Abraham’s generosity we will have the opportunity to bring our work to the people of Cape Town and to continue to develop both our own talents and the talents of younger generations of South African performers.”
For further information visit www.isangoportobello.com, or contact Georgina Rae, Isango Portobello, on 021 696 3646, or georgina@portobelloproductions.com.
