Djamaqua Productions

DJAMAQUA PRODUCTIONS. A company founded by Oscar Peterson, Heinrich Reisenhofer and David Isaacs in 200* to perform the Joe Barber series of plays by Heinrich Reisenhofer and Oscar Peterson. A play about daily events in a District Six barber shop. First performed by Oscar Peterson, Heinrich Reisenhofer and David Isaacs at Skokiaan Theatre Bar, Cape Town 1999. This play went on to play the various festivals, and in 2003 won a Kanna award for comedy at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK). A spin off has been a TV series. It has also been followed by four other plays by the same group - Joe Barber**, Joe Barber** Joe Barber Up Close (2009) and Joe Barber Up Close (2010). In the latter years produced by Djamaqua Productions Djamaqua Productions was formed by Oscar Petersen, David Isaacs and Heinrich Reisenhofer with the aim of effecting significant change in the local theatre scene and speaking to relevant issues in our environment. It is the team that is not only responsible for the creation of critically acclaimed production Suip! but also for the sensational comedy series Joe Barber, which has been running for 7 years and has become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. This year Djamaqua Productions has already produced Bartho Smit’s controversial political comedy Bacchus in die Boland for the Suidoosterfees and the KKNK, the return season of the new Suip! and the latest episode of Joe Barber at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Djamaqua Productions is slowly making its name as a major player in the development of an inclusive South African theatre by bringing more people of colour to mainstream theatres than other any other Cape production company. The name Djamaqua (Pronounced ‘Jum-Aqua’) derives from a Nama word referring to the richness from the earth. In Nama culture music, poetry and story telling are said to derive from the land and elements and passed down orally from generations to generation to form the wealth of their culture. The second reference is to a disused copper mine called Jamaqua in a remote part of Namaqualand en route to Springbok. As such Djamaqua Productions rekindles the spirit of these once abandoned places by reclaiming and developing the wealth of culture drawn from our forgotten spaces and translating into an urban context. It wasn’t long before people started coming down with ‘Joe Barber fever’. A typical Joe Barber fan would boast of having seen the show more than six times. Consequently, Meet Joe Barber evolved into just Joe Barber, followed by its sequel Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too. Djamaqua Productions was formed by Oscar Petersen, David Isaacs and Heinrich Reisenhofer with the aim of effecting significant change in the local theatre scene and speaking to relevant issues in our environment. It is the team that is not only responsible for the creation of critically acclaimed production Suip! but also for the sensational comedy series Joe Barber, which has been running for 7 years and has become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. 2007 saw Djamaqua Productions produce Bartho’s Smit’s controversial political comedy Bacchus in die Boland for the Suidoosterfees and the KKNK, the return season of the new Suip! and the latest episode of Joe Barber at the Baxter Theatre Centre. DJAMAQUA PRODUCTIONS. Djamaqua Productions was formed by Oscar Petersen, David Isaacs and Heinrich Reisenhofer with the aim of effecting significant change in the local theatre scene and speaking to relevant issues in our environment. It is the team that is not only responsible for the creation of critically acclaimed production Suip! but also for the sensational comedy series Joe Barber, which has been running for 7 years and has become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. This year Djamaqua Productions has already produced Bartho Smit’s controversial political comedy Bacchus in die Boland for the Suidoosterfees and the KKNK, the return season of the new Suip! and the latest episode of Joe Barber at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Djamaqua Productions is slowly making its name as a major player in the development of an inclusive South African theatre by bringing more people of colour to mainstream theatres than other any other Cape production company. The name Djamaqua (Pronounced ‘Jum-Aqua’) derives from a Nama word referring to the richness from the earth. In Nama culture music, poetry and story telling are said to derive from the land and elements and passed down orally from generations to generation to form the wealth of their culture. The second reference is to a disused copper mine called Jamaqua in a remote part of Namaqualand en route to Springbok. As such Djamaqua Productions rekindles the spirit of these once abandoned places by reclaiming and developing the wealth of culture drawn from our forgotten spaces and translating into an urban context. It wasn’t long before people started coming down with ‘Joe Barber fever’. A typical Joe Barber fan would boast of having seen the show more than six times. Consequently, Meet Joe Barber evolved into just Joe Barber, followed by its sequel Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too.

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