22/10/2025
How the Market Theatre Eats Its Own Children
By Paul Noko
Once known as the theatre of the struggle, the Market Theatre was a home for fearless voices, political defiance, and artistic liberation. Today, almost five decades later, it stands at a painful crossroads caught between its revolutionary past and a fragile present defined by leadership instability, disillusioned graduates, and questions about whether it still serves the very artists it was built to empower.
A Glorious Past Built on Defiance, founded in 1976 by Barney Simon and Mannie Manim in a converted Indian fruit market, the Market Theatre defied apartheid laws by staging multi-racial performances when segregation still defined public life. It became a sanctuary for truth a space where protest found poetic form and art became a weapon of conscience. From Woza Albert! Born in RSA, Cincinnati to Sophiatown, and The Island, the theatre nurtured artists who went on to shape global stages. In 2005, it was formally recognised as a cultural institution under the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, carrying both heritage and responsibility. But inside its Newtown building, once pulsing with rebellion and renewal, the echoes of that spirit are growing faint.
The New Market Theatre, A Place That Teaches but Doesn’t Take Care. In interviews with several alumni of the Market Theatre Laboratory and the Market Photo Workshop, a recurring sentiment emerges: the institution still trains but rarely sustains. “You graduate full of hope,” says a former student, “but once you leave the Lab, there’s nothing waiting for you. No network, no mentorship, no real bridge into the industry. You have to start from zero again.”
Over the years, hundreds of students have passed through the Market’s programs. Yet, beyond a few notable names who’ve reshaped the creative landscape, many remain invisible in an industry that once looked to the Market as a beacon of excellence. A former administrator, who asked not to be named, adds: "It’s become more about survival than creativity. The place feels like a business now a spaza shop that sells culture instead of nurturing it.”
Leadership in Flux, the theatre’s internal turbulence has only deepened the sense of uncertainty. In 2025, CEO Tshiamo resigned after years at the helm. Since then, senior positions have shifted frequently. In October 2024, the Foundation announced the appointment of Lekgetho Makola as Chief Operations Officer, signalling yet another restructuring phase.
Currently, the Market Theatre has no permanent CEO and no senior producer. An assistant producer resigned earlier this year, while the new Chief Financial Officer only recently assumed duties. For an institution responsible for millions in public funding, this level of turnover raises questions about governance and continuity.
A Department of Sport, Arts and Culture official, speaking off record, acknowledged “concerns about administrative direction and long-term sustainability,” adding that “internal reviews are being conducted to ensure the Market’s mandate aligns with its original mission.”
The Forgotten Children of the Revolution. The Market Theatre’s greatest legacy training has also become its most painful contradiction. Graduates of the Market Theatre Laboratory often find themselves celebrated at showcases, only to disappear from the industry months later.
According to independent arts researchers, less than 30% of Lab graduates from the past decade maintain consistent employment in the performing arts sector. The rest pivot to unrelated fields or abandon the arts entirely. This pattern mirrors a larger national issue, where arts training institutions produce talent without infrastructure to absorb it. But the Market Theatre’s symbolic position makes its failures cut deeper.
“They give you the skill, but they don’t trust you to run the house,” says one alumnus. “It’s as if the institution fears its own children.”
A Theatre Turned Bureaucracy. Walking through the Newtown precinct today, the Market Theatre’s façade still commands reverence but its interior feels different. The revolutionary energy has been replaced by administrative caution. Productions are fewer, budgets tighter, and bureaucracy thicker.
Critics argue that the institution has become more of a bureaucratic foundation than a creative incubator. Its focus appears increasingly geared toward maintaining funding compliance and event management, rather than cultivating daring new work or empowering alumni to lead.
“It used to be a movement,” notes veteran actor and director (Name withheld,) “now it’s an office. Artists are guests in a house that was built for them.” A Board Under Scrutiny. Earlier this month, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie dissolved the Market Theatre’s board amid what he called “conflicting reports and leadership dysfunction.” While details of the internal conflict remain scarce, insiders say disputes revolved around accountability, expenditure, and the theatre’s long-term vision.
This dissolution follows a pattern across several state-funded arts institutions where boards have clashed with executives or ministries over governance and creative independence.
The Market Theatre’s new interim management will now need to navigate not only financial recovery but also reputational repair and perhaps, moral renewal. The Real Question: Who Is the Market Theatre For? At its core, the current crisis is not only about leadership or funding it’s about purpose. The Market Theatre was built to serve artists and audiences, to confront injustice through creativity. But as its leadership becomes more corporate and its graduates feel abandoned, the question lingers: has the institution forgotten who it serves?
Cultural analyst Thuli Maseko puts it plainly: “The Market was the people’s theatre. If the people no longer feel ownership of it, then something fundamental has been lost.” A Call for Renewal. The Market Theatre stands at a decisive moment. To regain its relevance, it must return to its founding principles community, mentorship, and artistic courage. That means creating real pathways for graduates, opening leadership pipelines for artists, and ensuring transparency in governance and funding.
The Market’s history proves what art can do in times of struggle. Its future will depend on whether it can summon that same courage to confront the quiet decay within its own walls. Until then, the Market Theatre risks remaining what one former student called it:
“A place where dreams are taught but never allowed to live.”
