Donaldson Orlando Community Centre
The name
Officially named the Donaldson Orlando Community Theatre, after its first sponsor, the Donaldson Trust. It is usually referred to by its acronym (DOCC) but has also been referred to as the Donaldson Orlando Cultural Club by a number of speakers and writers about theatre. This is most probably an error deriving from a misreading of the acronym. Among those using the alternative name are Ian Steadman, Ramolao Makhene (cited by Geoffrey V. Davis and Anne Fuchs) and Loren Kruger. However the official name appears in most other documents, including interviews with Gcina Mhlope, the Donaldson Trust website and SA History Online.
It was later renamed the Orlando East Community Hall, though the DOCC acronym is still used by many.
Its function
A community centre and community hall in Soweto, originally funded by the Donaldson Trust, later by different organisations and trusts and run by people who live in Soweto. Uncomfortably squeezed into a corner of one of Soweto's busiest streets, the DOCC had no dedicated theatre space , just a fairly big room called "the hall" which offered little more than an all-purpose space with no theatrical facilities. Productions there include Maishe Maponya’s The Hungry Earth (1979), Pula (1982) *** Mandla Dube was in charge in the early 1980s.
Its use for theatre
For more information
Kruger, 1999: 141, 164; Wakashe, 1986
Return to
Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page
