Jan 26, 2010
The Fugard Theatre, the award-winning Isango Portobello Company’s new Cape Town home in the historic District Six, will have its gala opening at 7pm on the 12th February with a performance of the Company’s Olivier Award-winning West End hit show THE MAGIC FLUTE – IMPEMPE YOMLINGO.
The gala evening is to be hosted by Cabinet Minister Trevor Manuel, who is also the patron of Isango Portobello and the founding producer of Isango Portobello Eric Abraham, who commissioned and sponsored the theatre and underwrites the company.
The Fugard is located within the historic Sacks Futeran building with the original decommissioned Congregational Church Hall in Caledon Street as its entrance. The theatre is named in honour of Athol Fugard, South Africa’s greatest playwright who will be present at the inauguration.
The 270 – seat theatre complex, including a rehearsal studio, foyer space, dressing rooms and office space, is a transformation of two warehouse spaces and the original Congregational Church Hall.
The opening season of The Fugard will comprise the Isango Portobello’s award-winning London West End hit shows – the 2008 Olivier award-winning THE MAGIC FLUTE - IMPEMPE YOMLINGO and THE MYSTERIES – YIIMIMANGALISO and a world premiere on March 19 of Athol Fugard’s new play, especially written for the opening – THE TRAIN DRIVER which he will direct.
THE MAGIC FLUTE - IMPEMPE YOMLINGO was first performed to widespread acclaim at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in 2007, before transferring to the Young Vic in London. It won the Whatsonstage Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Off-West End Production, and transferred to the Duke of York’s theatre in February 2008 for an acclaimed West End season, and won the 2008 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. Over 50,000 theatre-goers saw the production in the UK. The Isango Portobello production has toured to capacity audiences and standing ovations in Japan, Singapore, Ireland, the Netherlands and France.
More recently, Isango Portobello’s latest production of THE MYSTERIES – YIIMIMANGALISO premièred at the Baxter Theatre in June 2009 and then transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End in September 2009, receiving unanimous critical acclaim.
The Isango Portobello Company won an Arts and Culture Trust Award for Excellence in Opera in Johannesburg on November 6th 2009.
The members of the creative team behind The Fugard have a solid history in international theatre and film and a global reputation for artistic innovation.
At the helm of the UK-based Portobello is producer Eric Abraham. He heads up Portobello Pictures, an independent film, television and theatre production company with its head office in London. In October 2006, the company opened an office in Cape Town and set up Isango (meaning “gate” in Xhosa) Portobello, in collaboration with award-winning director Mark Dornford-May and South African opera star and music director Pauline Malefane, to produce theatre and film projects in South Africa. The Fugard now becomes their much anticipated home base.
Mannie Manim, a much garlanded mainstay of South African theatre and a co-founder of The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, joined The Fugard team on a full-time basis in January following his retirement as CEO of Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre in December. Having been both a long-term supporter of the Company and Lighting Designer for all its productions to date, Manim will work with the Company in developing The Fugard and the local and international profile of the Isango Portobello Company.
The rest of the Isango Portobello creative team is made up of co-music director Mandisi Dyantyis and Lungelo Ngamlana as choreographer and associate director.
As a textile and soft goods supplier in the early twentieth century, the Sacks Futeran building was frequented by generations of District Six seamstresses and tailors. The architectural firm working on this unique project is Rennie Scurr Adendorff, with architect Shaun Adendorff as the main partner behind the design of the new theatre. R&N Master Builders are the building company responsible for the major work. The utmost care has been taken to preserve this National Heritage Site.
Tickets for the opening season performances at The Fugard can be booked by phoning the box office on 021 461 4554 or booking on-line at www.thefugard.com