Ladysmith Black Mambazo to go online for Africa Day celebrations

The virtual show forms part of the theatre’s Africa Day celebrations and will feature unseen acts from local artists and musicians. Ladysmith Black Mambazo will be joined by jazz composer and vocalist Ncamisa Nqana and visual artist Percy Maimela. A production in collaboration with the Luthando Arts Academy is also planned for the programme.

The playhouse announced last week that between May and December it would "temporarily replace the fourth wall with the computer screen" by employing various online platforms to stream its productions.

“Since 2014, we have been experimenting with bringing theatre online and on television,” artistic director Aubrey Sekhabi said. “This led to my presentation at the African Union in Addis Ababa where I intended to invite artists on the continent to be part of this initiative.

"With the [COVID-19] lockdown, we are presented with an opportunity to experiment on this format. We are ready to launch, while providing relief for our artists to earn income. We also intend to solidify the online platform as an alternative or secondary platform for our artistic offering.”

The news follows the government's issuing of regulations on live streaming, which include mitigation measures for performing arts institutions and playhouses that have the relevant infrastructure to present their content online.

A full schedule of the South African State Theatre’s broadcast dates and times will be released soon. More information and updates on the programme is available here.