Magnet Theatre

Magnet Theatre

Magnet Theatre was formed in 1987 by Mark Fleishman and Jenny Reznek to produce Jennie Reznek's first one-person performance, Cheap Flights . It re-emerged in 1991 to produce The Show's Not Over Till The Fat Lady Sings in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Pietermaritzburg, Windhoek, London, Brighton, Manchester, Glastonbury, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Stockholm.

In 1994, after touring for two and a half years, they returned to South Africa with the following aims:

• To continue to develop Jennie Reznek's own unique physical performance style through the continued creation of small scale productions • To collaborate with other practitioners on larger scale productions which would encompass a broader socio-political vision • To develop a profile for the company as an ongoing organisation with a specific artistic vision • To develop the language of physical theatre in South Africa as a means to overcoming vast language diversities.

Since 1994 they have continued to contribute to SA theatre with a variety of works. These include: In collaboration with Jazzart Dance Theatre, they created 7 new works - Medea (1994), The Sun, the Moon, and the Knife (1995), SOE LOEP ONS ... NOU NOG! (1996), VLAM 2 (1999), COLD WATERS/ THIRSTY SOULS (2002), RAIN IN A DEAD MAN’S FOOTPRINTS (2004/2005) and CARGO (2007); • Adapted and staged Herman Melville’s epic novel - MOBY DICK (1994); • Created 2 new Jennie Reznek-inspired performance pieces - I DO X 22 (1997) and 53 DEGREES (2002); • Created 3 outdoor theatre productions - PUMP (1998/9), ONNEST'BO (2002/3/5/6) and DIE VREEMDELING (2010); • Created a large-scale outdoor performance event, VLAM 1 (1999), to celebrate the dawn of the new millennium in collaboration with Jazzart and Southern Edge Arts of Western Australia; • Adapted the stories of the acclaimed Mozambican author, Mia Couto, for the stage as VOICES MADE NIGHT (2000/1 and 2007); • Collaborated with Theatre Spirale (Geneva) on a South African version of the Swiss play THE FIRE RAISERS by Max Frisch (2004), combining seven South African actors with actors from Mali, Indonesia and Switzerland; • Created EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY, I AM WALKING on the subject of refugees in Africa for the African Festival of Youth and Children’s Theatre in Yaounde, Cameroon (2006) with further performances at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown (2007 and 2009), Cape Town (2007 and 2010), Johannesburg (2008), Hilton Festival (2008), KKNK (2009), Aardklop (2009), in 9 SADC countries (2008/9); as well as at the London International Festival of Theatre (2006/7); Proyecto Festival, Argentina (2009); Juice Festival, Newcastle-Gateshead (2009); International Theatre Festival of Kerala, India (2009); Oval House, London(2010; and IDEA Congress, Brazil (2010);

The Magnet Theatre Educational Trust

The Magnet Theatre Educational Trust for "Community Groups Intervention": The objective of this project is to strengthen community theatre as an important part of the theatrical landscape in South Africa.For more information go to www.magnettheatre.co.za

The Magnet Theatre - Old Match Factory

In the early 1920s the Lion Match Company built a group of very large industrial buildings in Lower Main Road, Observatory, all in the grand and imposing style of the times. These happily survived the century and have now been converted to provide an ultra moderm office complex of 11 500m2.

In 2010 Magnet Theatre acquired a space in this complex to serve as their home base theatere. They worked there for the year then opened the space formally as a The Magnet Theatre on January 26th 2011 with their production of Die Vreemdeling.

Sources

http://magnettheatre.co.za/aboutus

For more information

http://magnettheatre.co.za/

Return to

Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page