Junction Avenue Theatre Company

Founded in 1976 by William Kentridge, Malcolm Purkey, Ari Sitas, ???, while students at University of Witwatersrand. This company created a space in which working-class subjects (as defined in Marxist discourse) could be used to facilitate confrontation with the prevailing issues, particularly regarding the state in the late 1970s. Other key participants were Ari Sitas and Astrid von Kotze. When Workshop '71 dissolved in 1976, many of its members joined Junction Avenue Theatre Company. Plays included The Fantastical History of a Useless Man (1976), Randlords and Rotgut (1978), Will of a Rebel (1979), Security (1979), Ilanga Lizophumela Abasebenzi (1980), Sophiatown (1985), and Love, Crime and Johannesburg (1997). Among the protegés of the company who went on to play important roles in the industry are many members of the cast of Sophiatown, i.e. Patrick Shai, Arthur Molepo, Doreen Mazibuko, Gladys Mothlane, Madidi Maphoto, Siphiwe Khumalo and Ramolao Makhene.

Junction Avenue Theatre Company: Founded in 1976 by Malcolm Purkey. In collaboration with the Company they presented Sophiatown starring Minky Schlesinger and created by its cast at Upstairs at the Market in February 1986, the Market main house, abroad, with many return visits.

Sources

Junction Avenue Theatre Company. 1988; Tucker, 1997, Orkin, 200*

For more information

National Arts Festival programme, 1991. 50.

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