Tuesday 16 March 2021 will go down in history as a dark day for the Cape Town arts community – the day their beloved Fugard Theatre called time on the historical journey that created stars and bolstered artists’ careers when no other theatre would.
News of the closure was announced on The Fugard Theatre’s website and sent shockwaves through the theatre world.
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The theatre is the namesake of South Africa’s most celebrated playwright, Athol Fugard.
During his career, he has scripted over 30 plays which champion his cause for destroying stereotypes and uplifting truth and humanity.
The location of the Fugard is synonymous with what the theatre stood for. District 6 was once a vibrant area filled with colour and community – until apartheid ripped it apart and removed Coloured people from their rightful homes.
The theatre took on the role of reclaiming the culture and history, and creating a space where everyone was welcome.
What fans had to say:
Arts aficionado based in Cape Town, Robyn Cohen, also fondly known as the Cape Robyn was saddened to hear of the closure and penned a powerful piece on her website praising the institution’s decades of work in the art space.
Cohen explained what the building meant to the community following the forced removals.
“The District was a site of dispossession and erasure as people were forcibly moved out of their homes, under the Apartheid Group Areas Act. Eric Abraham had the vision to re-constitute a building and to re-purpose it as a vital platform to tell stories,” she said.
“I salute Team Fugard Theatre and Eric Abraham for a decade of extraordinary theatre. What remains, is the legacy of the ten year tenure of The Fugard Theatre and its body of work,” wrote Cohen.
Sadly another casualty of Covid-19. Fans will have to wait to hear what happens next with the beloved theatre.
