Township

Township is the name used to refer to the urban ghetto where black South African citizens were required to live in colonial times (1852-1947) as well as the apartheid regime (1948-1994).

South African definition and use of the term

Formally known as a "Location" ("Lokasie" in Afrikaans)

Townships and theatre

The township musical

A term used to refer to a uniquely South African form of musical melodrama which evolved in the various black urban townships of South Africa, also as a particularly powerful form of political and protest theatre.

See further Township musical

Township venues

A reference to venues in urban, (black) townships utilized for theatrical performances. These ranged from formal Community Halls, school and church halls to private homes, shebeens, streets and grave-sides.

After the fall of Apartheid and the new dispensation in 1994, the townships gradually became larger and economically more empowered. Also a number of new venues arose, including the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani (2012),

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