Ian Steadman

Ian Steadman (1951-) is an actor, director, playwright, researcher and academic.

Also found as Ian P. Steadman.

BEING EDITED

Biography

Born Ian Patrick Steadman in Durban, the son of a policeman, and he studied drama and history at the University of Natal (Durban), completed a masters at Binghamton University, USA, and a doctorate entitled Drama and Social Consciousness: Themes in Black Theatre on the Witwatersrand until 1984 at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1985.

He became a lecturer at the School of Drama at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1977 and in 1986 became professor and head of the School. Having served a four year term as Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University (1993-1996), he ultimately became Director of the Wits Foundation in 1998. In 2003 he relocated to the United Kingdom and he settled in Oxford, UK, wheren he was appointed as The Director of the Open University Foundation.

He is now retired and lives in Oxford.

After retirement Steadman became involved in charitable work.

Married to the employment, commercial and workplace mediator, Felicity Steadman[1] and the couple have two sons.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

As teacher, academic and researcher

An immensely influential researcher, academic writer and supervisor of post-graduate research, whose doctoral thesis is an early and one of the most often cited, study of Black theatre in the country. Steadman was closely involved with setting up Keyan Tomaselli’s journal Critical Arts, the co-founder (with Temple Hauptfleisch) of the South African Theatre Journal, co-author (also with Hauptfleisch) of the seminal collection South African Theatre - Four Plays and an Introduction. In more than a dozen key articles on theatre and performance in South Africa, Steadman not only added to, but significantly guided and stimulated new research in the field. He has been especially influential in uncovering the range and depth of black urban theatre in the country, and the political role of theatre in the country.

Through his research and teaching, he was also closely associated, as director, mentor and researcher, with developing the work of the performer/playwrights Matsemela Manaka and Maishe Maponya.

Sources

SACD 1977/78

Percy Tucker. 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

Personal correspondence from Ian Steadman, 5 February, 2019.

Go to the ESAT Bibliography

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As an actor, he performed in A Flea in Her Ear (with PACT), Falstaff (with PACT), Hamlet (“Osric” with PACT, 1978),various productions for CAPAB, Pieter Toerien Productions, the Market Theatre, and the Natal Theatre Workshop Company. Also acted in Sleuth for The Cider Mill Theatre in Johnson City, New York, in 1977.

(1951-) Actor, director, playwright, researcher and academic. ****** Directed plays for the Theatre Workshop Company (Durban). **** An active member of the Association of Drama Departments of South Africa and the Performing Arts Worker’s Equity. Besides performing in numerous plays for PACT and the Market Theatre over the years, has also done TV and film work. Most notably his role as John the Baptist in Bill Faure’s 1978 TV version of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, opposite Jana Cilliers.

His dramatic writing includes essays in various journals and books.

An immensely influential researcher, academic writer and supervisor of post-graduate research, Steadman was closely involved with setting up Keyan Tomaselli’s Critical Arts, the co-founder (with Temple Hauptfleisch) of the South African Theatre Journal, co-author of the seminal collection South African Theatre- Four Plays and an Introduction, and the author of more than a dozen influential articles on theatre in South Africa. He has been especially influential in uncovering the range and depth of black urban theatre in the country, and the political role of theatre in the country. He was also closely associated with developing the work of Matsemela Manaka and Maishe Maponya.

STEADMAN, Ian. He directed the Wits University Theatre’s first production called The Comedy of Errors, cast with students in 1983. He starred in Vladimir Gubartev’s Sarcophagus at the Andre Huguenet in 1988. He starred in My Fair Lady at the State Theatre in 1990. Wrote and directed the play Genocide, staged in the Market Theatre Upstairs.

(****-****). Actor. Performed in Flea in her Ear (with PACT), Falstaff (with PACT) and in Hamlet (in 1978 as “Osric” with PACT), also worked overseas. (SACD 1977/78)

(1951-) Actor, director, playwright, researcher and academic. Studied drama and history at the University of Natal (Durban). Completed a masters at ***, and a doctorate on Black Theatre on the Witwatersrand ??? at the University of the Witwatersrand. ****** Directed plays for the Theatre Workshop Company (Durban). **** Became a lecturer at the School of Drama at the University of the Witwatersrand in 19**. In 198* became professor and head of the School. An active member of the Association of Drama Departments of South Africa and the Performing Arts Worker’s Equity. Besides performing in numerous plays for PACT and the Market Theatre over the years, has also done TV and film work. Most notably his role as John the Baptist in ***’s 19** TV version of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, opposite Jana Cilliers. His dramatic writing includes *****.

He was also closely associated with developing the work of Matsamela Manaka and Maishe Maponya. In 1998 Steadman became Director of the Wits Foundation. STEADMAN, Ian. He directed the Wits University Theatre’s first production called The Comedy of Errors, cast with students in 1983. He starred in Vladimir Gubartev’s Sarcophagus at the Andre Huguenet in 1988. He starred in My Fair Lady at the State Theatre in 1990.

Wrote and directed the play Genocide, staged in the Market Theatre Upstairs.