The Fugard Theatre Celebrates its Fifth Birthday

Today, on Thursday 12 February, to mark the occasion of the Fugard Theatre's fifth birthday since its official opening, the Fugard Theatre staff and the cast and crew of David Kramer's highly acclaimed musical ORPHEUS IN AFRICA, will light the candles on a birthday cake after the curtain call of the 8pm performance. All patrons attending the show will raise a glass of bubbly in the foyer after the show.

The Fugard Theatre is named after Athol Fugard, South Africa's most significant and internationally acclaimed playwright. For over fifty years, he has written soul-searing plays with roles for all South Africans which have moved audiences in South Africa and around the world to laughter and tears as they reflected the racism, barbarity and inhumanity of apartheid. In his over thirty plays Fugard champions truth and universal humanity. In 2011, he creceived the ultimate recognition from the world's most prestigious theatre community: a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. The Fugard Theatre is proud to bear his name.

The Fugard Theatre was established by South African born Eric Abraham, a film, television and theatre producer. He is best known for producing the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning film KOLYA (Best Foreign Language Film 1996). This year, Pawel Pawlikowski's Polish language IDA, which Abraham produced, recently won Best Film at this years BAFTA's and at the 57th BFI Film Festival in 2013. The film has been nominated for two 2014 Academy Awards in the catogories Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film.

In its relatively short history the Fugard Theatre has proven to be one of the Mother City's most beautiful theatre venues which prides itself in offering the very best in live theatre, cinematic screenings and is a popular choice for bespoke corporate events.

The theatre produces shows that attract a vast and diverse audience - from runaway hit musicals THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, KAT AND THE KINGS and BLOOD BROTHERS, to plays presented in English and Afrikaans such as BROKEN GLASS (with Sir Antony Sher), CHAMP, WAITING FOR GODOT (with Sir Ian McKellan) and THE TRAIN DRIVER and DIE LAASTE KARRETJIEGRAF, DIE KAPTEIN SE TIER and AS DIE BROEK PAS, to stand up comedy, to once-off music events by artists such as Karen Zoid and Vusi Mahlasela.

The Fugard Theatre's Executive Director, Daniel Galloway, who heads a dynamic team who oversee all aspects of the theatre's life says: "Fugard Theatre productions primarily give opportunity for the best of South African talent to shine. Some 1 000 000 patrons have passed through our doors in the passed 5 years. Our own Fugard productions range from serious dramas like Athol Fugard's new and established works to David Kramer's wonderful musicals. His latest - ORPHEUS IN AFRICA - which opened at the Fugard on January 28 is currently enjoying a capacity season in our main theatre, to our own production of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW which finally ended its run on February 1 this year in Johannesburg after 444 sold out performances in both Cape Town and Johannesburg - a small piece of South African theatre history. One of our specially commissioned productions - the powerful and important A HUMAN BEING DIED THAT NIGHT by South African born playwright Nick Wright opens in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on May 29, 2015. It had its official world premiere at the Fugard Theatre last year and garnered Best Actor, Best Actress and Best New South African Script nominations in next month's 50th Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards. We are delighted to be transferring South African playwright Louis Viljoen's latest production, THE PERVERT LAURA, which is in line for several Fleur du Cap awards too, to our Studio Theatre in May this year. We are proud to host and co-present one of Africa's biggest literary festivals The Open Book Festival each year since the festival's inception in 2010. The Fugard Bioscope presents the very best of theatre, opera and ballet from around the world and has a strong core constituency who keeps our bioscope jam-packed on Sunday mornings. We also have an exceptionally strong social media following with just over 117,000 Facebook followers. The Fugard Theatre receives no subsidies and in this it's fifth year we've covered over 50% of our annual overhead from earnings. The difference is provided by the founding producer Eric Abraham. We look forward to a time when the Fugard Theatre will be entirely self-sustaining from it's various activities".

Of the Fugard Theatre, owner and executive producer Eric Abraham says: "I am proud of each and every one of our Fugard Theatre productions. Their quality speaks for itself and I believe they would not be out of place on any stage in London or New York. They set out to entertain and inform our audiences and provoke them to think and feel. In the five years of the Fugard's existence I think we have made a difference to the cultural landscape in Cape Town and South Africa. Our small Fugard team reflects the rainbow nation that South Africa is. Each and every one of them is deeply committed to the Fugard and a broader society in which there is tolerance, respect, understanding and compassion for one another. There are no free rides and they work enormously hard each day and provide a fine example. I see the Fugard as a crucible of creativity which reflects the common humanity of the man whose name it bears and of that I am very proud."

Athol Fugard, after whom the theatre is named, said: "When this wonderful theatre was named after me five years ago, I felt unworthy that my name was going to be on the facade of an old District Six church, not to mention on the billboards that would inevitably follow. During the past five years, this has slowly transformed into a sense of great pride. Now, I celebrate the theatre, and the fact that I have a home in Cape Town. The Fugard Theatre has proven itself to be a world-class theatre that supports local artists and their work, just as it continues to expose local audiences to productions from abroad".

David Kramer's new hit musical ORPHEUS IN AFRICA is running until Monday 23 February, after which the highly anticipated CABARET opens with an all star South African cast directed by Matthew Wild. WEST SIDE STORY, the Fugard Theatre's much anticipated first grand scale, out-of-house production will be presented at the Artscape Opera House from 23 July to 23 August 2015. Bookings are through the Fugard Theatre box office on 021 461 4554, or Computicket on 08619158000.

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