AS the Market Theatre Foundation (MTF) approaches its 50th anniversary next year, it proudly stands alongside the National Arts Festival (NAF), its contemporary in age and spirit—two of South Africa’s most enduring cultural institutions, both forged in the crucible of a changing nation and committed to shaping the countries creative future.
This year, the MTF continues to build on its longstanding partnership with the NAF in Makhanda.
Between 26 June – 6 July 2025, its business units – The Market Theatre Laboratory, The Market Photo Workshop and The Market Theatre – will showcase some of the best of Jo’burg’s creativity at NAF.
BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE
Venue: Rhodes Theatre
Audiences at NAF can expect a front row seat for the South African premiere of ‘Breakfast with Mugabe’, directed by 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre recipient, Calvin Ratladi.
Written by award-winning playwright, Fraser Grace, the play’s exemplary cast includes Themba Ndaba portraying ‘Mugabe’ and Gontse Ntshegang as ‘Grace’.
Inspired by reports that Mugabe once sought psychiatric treatment for his declining mental health, the play is a fictional imagining of conversations between a probing white doctor and his powerful, avoidant patient.
As the psychiatrist attempts to pierce Mugabe’s defences, the two men delve themes of grief, healing, faith, nationalism, and legacy.
Critics have hailed the piece as a “modern-day ‘Macbeth‘,” in which Mugabe’s haunted psyche, tormented by the vengeful spirit of a dead comrade, becomes the play’s driving force.
‘Breakfast with Mugabe’ is a co-production between the National Arts Festival, The Market Theatre and Festival Enterprise Catalyst (FEC), in association with the Calvin Ratladi Foundation, with contributing funding from Standard Bank South Africa.
KEMET – BLACK LANDS
Venue: Rhodes Box
KEMET – Black Lands is a powerful solo dance work by Asanda Ruda that traverses the complex terrain of generational alienation, political defiance, and personal emancipation. Rooted in Afro-contemporary expression, the piece explores the layered intersections of space, politics, and culture, offering a deeply embodied protest of the self.
The work is choreographed and performed by Asanda Ruda, 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance and recipient of the 2025 CCA JOMBA! and Market Theatre Phakamisa Dance Commission.
Moving beyond the confines of inherited cultural frameworks, Ruda challenges conformity and asserts an audacious, self-defined identity. Her body becomes a vessel through which echoes of the past resound – ancestral music and memory reverberating through movement – while simultaneously carving out new, uncharted possibilities of being.
KEMET – Black Lands is a National Arts Festival, Market Theatre, and JOMBA! Dance Festival (Centre for Creative Arts) co-production, with contributing funding from Standard Bank South Africa.
AFROPOCALYPSE
Venue: Centenary Hall
The Market Theatre Laboratory, a theatre school of the MTF, will once again showcase its second-year students’ work at NAF. Titled ‘Afropocalypse’, this imaginative piece is performed by students under the direction of acclaimed theatre-maker, Daniel Buckland. ‘Afropocalypse’ narrates the story of a post-apocalyptic South African wasteland, where a community of travelling players and storytellers navigate a desolate landscape through the power of story. The beautifully theatrical play dives into speculative fiction about the end of the world, exploring themes of survival and resilience in the face of overwhelming despair.
SINGOBANI, WHO ARE WE? EXHIBITION
Venue: Albany Museum
The Market Photo Workshop, a division of The Market Theatre Foundation, will curate this group exhibition at Albany Museum, Makhanda from 26 June – 06 July 20. It showcases photographs by women photographers who participated in training projects that capacitated them in using photography and mobile journalism as tools for awareness in telling their own stories and lived experiences as women in the Eastern Cape communities.
The exhibition is a thought provoking exploration that questions our soul, reality, religion, spirituality, personality and looks.
Since 2022, The Market Photo Workshop and the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture have conducted photography and visual storytelling trainings with young women from the Eastern Cape. These trainings have focused on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, while providing a visual storytelling platform for the young women to building awareness of their own stories and lived experiences as women in the Eastern Cape communities.
Exhibiting photographers: Aphiwe Ngowapi, Angelina Relebohile Majoro, Matsediso Dichaba, Singa Soci, Thabiso Mbangi, Zanele Lebaka-Tshabalala, Thabisa Nxawe, Dayimani Mbulelo, Zingiswa Princess Blom, Yanga Nginda, and Solulele Menemene.
PRAYERS
Venue: Princess Alice
The MTF wishes former Zwakala Festival winner, ‘Prayers’, a successful run at NAF. After winning the 30th iteration of the Zwakala Festival, the script went through further development and mentorship by award-winning playwright, J. Bobs Tshabalala, before having a two-week run at The Market Theatre in the 2024.
The one-hander is written and directed by Solly Ramatswi, starring award-winning actor and director, Vusi Nkwenkwezi. Although the production is travelling to NAF independently, its growing appeal underscores the power of developing community theatre for professional stages.
‘Prayers’is an edgy play written and directed by Solly Ramatswi that tells the story of a young man who is forced to self-reflect amid the expectations of society on the youth. He is conflicted between conforming to the problematic socialisation of boys and fighting his unbridled sexual urges.
The crux of the brave and bold play is the navigation of this maze. The inciting question that the piece grapples with is: “Can one find light from within, even in the darkest corners of the soul?”
As the Market Theatre Foundation looks toward joining the National Arts Festival in its 50s, its presence at this year’s NAF reaffirms a shared legacy between two cultural powerhouses that have long championed bold, innovative and socially engaged South African artistry.
This year’s presence, spanning theatre, dance, photography, and performance training, reflects The Market Theatre Foundation’s unwavering commitment to honouring excellence, nurturing emerging voices, and deepening the national conversation through the arts.
The MTF is proud to continue walking this journey with the Festival, advancing a creative vision that is as resilient and diverse as the country itself.
Image above provided (Breakfast with Mugabe- features Farai Chigudu, Craig Jackson, Calvin Ratladi, Gontse Ntshegang and Themba Ndaba).
