Joburg Theatre Stages Zakes Mda’s “Dead End” as First Live Audience Production

After the unforeseen Covid-19 induced a public events hiatus where all forms of public gatherings, including theatre productions, were not allowed, Joburg Theatre has managed to do what few theatres around the world have managed: to stage a live theatre production with a live audience.

Dead End was written by prolific award-winning South African playwright, novelist, storyteller, historian, artist, and beekeeper Zakes Mda, and first performed at Diepkloof Hall, Soweto on February 14, 1979. It’s the production which by all accounts has heralded some sort of return for live theatre.

Sanelisiwe Yekani and Khulu Skenjana in Dead End at Joburg Theatre. Photo from the original article.

Given that many theatre enthusiasts had over the past months been forced to survive on a diet of sometimes poorly recorded virtual theatre productions from archives, Thursday, August 20, 2020, was a momentous occasion which saw the first group of 50 paying patrons (the maximum allowed under level two lockdown regulations) to attend a live theatre production. The new normal dictated that each patron has their temperature checked and must sanitize their hands upon arriving before proceeding to buy or collect tickets, and then be ushered into the theatre by PPE wearing staff members who also conduct one final temperature check of all patrons. The sitting arrangement was strictly 1.5 meters apart and the wearing of masks was mandatory throughout the performance – this is the “new normal” for the foreseeable future!

The choice of staging a production with such a title by Joburg City Theatres could have been accidental, but one could not ignore the irony given how theatre, industry, commerce, and life as we know or knew it has to some degree reached a proverbial dead-end over the past few months where the world has grappled with varying degrees of success with Covid-19.

Featuring a supremely talented cast of Mncedisi Shabangu, Sanelisiwe Yekani, and Khulu Skenjana, and directed by Makhaola Ndebele, this over 40-year-old production was given a new lease of life. With themes such as the abuse and exploitation of women, it once again presents the fact that it was Women’s Month in South Africa, further heightening the sense and reality that has not been done to end the suffering of women at the hands of men and a toxic patriarchal society.

Khulu Skenjana in Dead End at Joburg Theatre. Photo from the original article.

The experimental four-day run, perhaps the shortest ever for any fully-fledged production at any of the Joburg City Theatres, was again indicative of how much the world has changed over the past few months – and also a forebearer of how life as we know or knew it is gone.

Joburg City Theatres, under CEO Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema, must be applauded for their bravery in staging this production under extremely strict Level Two safety protocols and for doing all that was necessary to ensure the safety of the patrons and staff.

This article was originally posted at theafricantheatremagazine.com on August 29th, 2020, and has been reposted with permission. To read the original article, click here.