Thina Bantu - We People

Thina Bantu - We People is a wokshopped play by Mavis Taylor and the UCT Workshop

(According to Itumeleng Wa Lehure’s CV, the text was created by Itumeleng Wa-Lehure, Mavis Taylor and Mark Fleishman.

It was created as a response to the violence present in South African society in the early 1980s. Working on the play it became increasingly clear that the solution necessary are extremely complex yet there is a belief that there is a way forward.

Awarded the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New Indigenous Script.

Performance history in South Africa

1986: First performed in the Little Theatre, Cape Town in 1986, directed by Mavis Taylor (a UCT Drama Department production). Assistant directors Mark Fleishman and Stephen Jennings, choreography Alfred Hinkel. Set design by Gavin Younge, lighting design by Sydney Jansen, music created by Nigel Maister. The cast were Poppy Tsira, Dumile Magodla, Gideon de Wet, Owen de Jager, Ann Fielding, Michelle Constant, Mark Fleishman, Nina Shepherd, Itumeleng Wa-Lehure, Pauline O'Kelly, Pamela Matshikwe.

1988: Performed Upstairs at the Market in January and February, directed by Mavis Taylor, starring Nomthetho Sibisi, Dumile Magodla, Itumeleng Wa-Lehulere, Gideon de Wet, Shirley Ellis, Mark Fleishman, Susan Pam, Michelle Constant, Lionel Newton and Margaretha Fischer. Patrick Curtis, lighting designer; Gavin Younge set designer.

Sources

Thina Bantu theatre pamphlet, 1986.

Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)

Review written by Raeford Daniel, The Citizen, 21 January 1988.

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