Future of Durban theatre
Directors are having to think more creatively to attract audiences. Tanya Waterworth and Duncan Guy look at what’s happening on Durban’s stages
GETTING bums on seats is a challenge for the theatres as patrons feel the economic pinch, and watching the screen at home supersedes live entertainment.
“The odds are stacked against the live performing arts,” said Durban arts personality Illa Thompson.
“We are in a recession so money is tight. We are reluctant to leave our homes and the myriad home entertainment alternatives on offer. We tend to find our leisure options online and not live, and unwise allocation of arts funding means less work is being created and fewer theatres are functioning.”
Theatre directors and owners said they had to think creatively to get around their patrons’ austerity.
“Theatre must now go to the people,” said Roland Stansell, who started the Rhumbelow Theatre, looking at trending corner pubs as attractive venues. “In the UK, fringe theatre all takes place in pubs. Typically one has a meal and a pint downstairs and goes upstairs afterwards to watch fringe theatre.”
Stansell said he had noticed the trend of pubs cropping up in residential areas.
“More and more local pubs are opening up in Durban. Six years ago there were no local pubs. People would go to a hotel, a nightclub or a restaurant.”
He said he had always thought the future of small independent theatre in Durban was going to be about partnerships.
“It’s a way of bringing theatre into an area,” he said, adding he would rather be seen as someone who created entertainment in Durban than someone who moaned about the lack of it.
“I see Rhumbelows springing up in different places in the future.”
At present, Rhumbelow partners with the Moth organisation at its Durban and Pietermaritzburg venues, with the country club in Westville, the Umkomaas Primary School on the South Coast and Tina’s Hotel in Kloof.
Stansell also said local theatre no longer enjoyed the amount of media coverage it once had.
On theatre content, Stansell said there appeared to be a drop in niche market productions. “The market seems to be supporting local or big brands,” he said.
He also said Durban’s theatre-going community was small and not in favour of experimenting. “There isn’t the mindset of thinking ‘let’s see new work’ that there is in Johannesburg and Cape Town.”
Theatre also appealed more to older people who may now feel too old to go out, he said.
Themi Venturas, who has been involved in theatre production in and around Durban for decades, said the cost of venues and production were steep, adding that funding was required to keep the cultural industry in the city alive.
Having closed the Catalina Theatre at Wilson’s Wharf last year because of high rental costs, Venturas, who still heads up production house Catalina Unlimited, said: “It’s about access to venues. Only the Elizabeth Sneddon and Playhouse can house shows with commercial aspirations. The Sneddon is booked up fairly well in advance and The Playhouse is hellishly expensive. The Catalina Theatre was set up to make space for smaller productions, but it was just too expensive. Supper clubs such as the Barnyard and Heritage Theatre have also gone,” he said.
“It’s also about affordability for audiences. Families are prepared to fork out for the annual Christmas production, but how do we keep the industry ticking over on a daily basis?”
Venturas added that Durban audiences flocked to well-known productions from Broadway or the West End, but were more hesitant to splash out for new productions.
“Last year we staged KwaMashu, which took a while to get going, but once word got around that it was good, it was packed. You cannot go from zero to Broadway. Small theatres such as The Catalina filled that gap,” he said.
“You must also bear in mind that the cost of putting a set on a large stage is a quantum leap from a small stage,” he said.
Venturas recently launched the isiLulu incubator on Clark Road in Glenwood, which he described as “an urban space for experimentation in music and drama, where new readings and plays can be tested”.
The executive director of KickstArt Productions, Steven Stead, also highlighted ticket cost, saying the most expensive ticket for a Durban production was the starting point for ticket prices in Joburg and Cape Town.
With their Christmas pantomime Sleeping Beauty having just ended at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Stead said children’s productions and musicals were always popular with Durban audiences.
“That love for theatre is often sparked when you are a child. We have been operating for 14 years, doing four shows a year, and Durban audiences responds to these events, but it’s important to choose the production, season and market.
“If a production follows a movie hit, it will up the popularity. For example, we staged Sweeney Todd, which did surprisingly well and attracted a younger audience demographic.
“The two main challenges are finding venues, because so many have closed, and the cost of tickets.
“We have found it harder and harder to guarantee that a production will be full as we are in very difficult economic times.
“Theatre is a luxury and we will offer deals such as 10 tickets for the price of eight, which appeals to groups of families and friends, and also helps fill seats.”
He said their next production was Chicago, which would be staged in April at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
Jackie Cunniffe, who heads up the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, confirmed the theatre was completely booked for this year. Productions included literary, poetry, film and dance events by UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts, UKZN drama student productions and outside hirers for shows.
“This does not mean the productions themselves will be fully booked in terms of tickets sales,” she said, adding that the most popular productions were “book” musicals, family pantomimes and comedy.
“Audiences enjoy shows that have familiar content, recognisable music and/or offer complete escapism and light-hearted entertainment – perhaps a sign of the stressful times we live in.”
Cunniffe said putting on a theatre show was “extremely expensive, especially when you consider that most shows in Durban can only run for a few weeks before the target audience is saturated”, and funding remained a challenge for the industry.
Logan Moodley, who arranged shows at Sibaya’s Izulu Theatre, agreed that the current financial climate was challenging. However, the 537seat theatre had always had at least 300 people at each show last year. The theatre featured mostly local comedy and musicals.
“We are fully booked every weekend this year,” he said, referring to performers.
In the Midlands, Lynn Chemaly, the director of the theatre at St Anne’s College, which specialises in contemporary educational theatre, said local misty weather conditions and DStv were two significant obstacles to increasing attendances.
Playhouse staff were on leave and were unavailable to comment on the year ahead, said chief financial officer Amar Mohanparsadh.
However, bookings have opened through Computicket for one of this year’s Playhouse highlights: the Royal Moscow Ballet’s visit to South Africa in March with A Tribute to the Great Russian Composers, Sergei Rachmaninov (Paginini and All By Myself), Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty) and Aleksander Borodin ( Polovtsian Dance).
The show hits the Playhouse on Saturday, March 11 at 2pm.
Thompson added that, despite the odds, the Durban theatre community created marvellous work.
“It is up to the public to support what we do, up to the funders to share the limited resources equitably, and up to the media to lend its support to ensure theatre’s sustained survival, evolution and growth.
“Now more than ever, the arts in their various manifestations – theatre, music, literature, film, spoken word, art and dance – have the power to make a huge difference in shifting our world view, elevating us out of the ordinary, engaging with difficult topics and nurturing empathy.
“As the divine Meryl Streep reminded us so eloquently during her Cecil B DeMille acceptance speech at the Golden Globes: an actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like.”