Guild Theatre
Contents
About the Guild Theatre
The East London Guild Theatre is a playhouse facility, producing and presenting performing arts in East London and the broader Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
Origins and history
Founded in 1962, the Guild has been home to some of South Africa’s leading artists, emerging local performers, as well as several international acts.
Aims
The main purpose of the Guild Theatre is to provide a functioning infrastructure to serve as the home for the performing arts in the East London/Buffalo City Municipality and its environs and to ensure that this infrastructure is used to:
•develop and stimulate an interest in the performing arts in the communities within Buffalo City •act as a base for the Guild Theatre’s outreach programmeme which aims to encourage and develop the practice of the performing arts among young people in the urban and rural areas of Buffalo City and the wider areas of the Eastern Cape.
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Programmes
As part of the Guild’s core business, the theatre is actively engaged in developing and nurturing talent and interest in the performing arts through its education programmes.
The Guild Theatre Dance Company
Formed in 1998, has been instrumental in facilitating the Guild’s education programmes through training workshops and education programmes for the talent of Buffalo City and surrounding areas, particularly in the townships and rural Eastern Cape. The company of eight professional dancers specialise in dance forms ranging from classical and traditional to contemporary and have graced the stage of many events such as the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and the opening of the Eastern Cape Tourism Summit.
Transnet Theatre Trucks
A recent partnership with the Transnet Foundation has enabled the Guild Theatre to expand its delivery to the province at large, enabling it to take the performing arts to areas where theatre infrastructure does not exist. The Transnet Theatre Trucks are horse-and-trailers converted into mobile performance stages, fully equipped with audio and stage lighting. The truck has a drop-down side creating a stage size of 8m x 5m powered by three-phase electricity and is fully equipped with a sound and lighting system that is suitable for all performances or events with an audience of up to 5000 people.The Theatre Trucks are available for rental with all proceeds going towards the Theatre’s education and audience development programmes, such as Community Connections.
For more information
See the Guild Theatre website at http://www.guildtheatre.co.za/
Return to
Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page
