Theatre Duo

Theatre Duo (2015-) is an independent collaborative theatre-making partnership and company based in South Africa.

Also written TheatreDuo and registered as Theatreduo & Collective (Pty) Ltd.

Founding and aims

The company was established in 2015 by Billy Langa and Mahlatsi Mokgonyana, who had met as students at the Market Theatre Laboratory. Their work weaves together the physical and verbal elements of theatre — movement and poetry — into a participatory mode of storytelling, listening and witnessing. They are also known for the creative adaptation of canonical plays and for mentoring young actors at the start of their professional careers.

History

One of the duo's early works is Just Antigone (2016), a version of Sophocles' tragedy. Their landmark production is Tswalo, an epic performance poem in English and Sepedi, written and performed by Billy Langa with direction, dramaturgy and design by Mahlatsi Mokgonyana, in collaboration with composer and sound designer John Withers. Tswalo won a Standard Bank Ovation Award at the 2018 National Arts Festival, Cape Town Fringe awards for performance and directing, and a Naledi Theatre Award in 2020; it has toured South Africa, Namibia, Germany and Scandinavia, was published in two editions (by Junkets Publishers and iwalewabooks), and forms part of the curriculum at Rhodes University. In 2019 the duo directed Eugène Ionesco's Rhinoceros, performed by Kwasha! Theatre Company at the Market Theatre, 4-20 October. They have also staged the Jefferson Tshabalala plays Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars and Poet-O-Type, and developed the minimalist piece SALT at The Centre for the Less Good Idea. Their work has toured internationally, including to Namibia, Germany, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. In 2022 Theatre Duo were named Standard Bank Young Artists for Theatre.