Screening of The Space: Theatre of Survival
On Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 October as a part of Black History Month, Central hosted a special screening of the independent documentary film The Space: Theatre of Survival. Organised by Claudette Williams, Central’s Senior Lecturer in Voice, the screening was followed by a Q&A with directors Dan Poole and Mark Street, and founder of The Space Brian Astbury.
The Space: Theatre of Survival tells the story of The Space theatre, the first non-racial, commercial arts venue in South Africa. It is the story of amazing people and the artists that fought against the odds to keep a theatre running, during what Athol Fugard called South Africa’s darkest days; how they refused to compromise their ideals and strove to continually present performances that challenged the social and political conditions in South Africa at that time.
It examines how, in just seven years, The Space came to champion all the arts including music, dance, painting and sculpture. In this time it produced nearly three hundred plays, won numerous awards, commissioned new works that would tour internationally, and became not just a theatre but a home to a host of young talent that would go on to be stars in South Africa and far beyond.
The film was completed earlier this year and since April has been on the Festival circuit, having its World Premiere at the Encounters International Film Festival at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, particularly notable as Athol Fugard was another founder of The Space.
The Space: Theatre of Survival features Athol Fugard (the most performed playwright in the world after Shakespeare), Tony award-winners John Kani and Winston Ntshona, Fatima Dike, Nomhle Nkonyeni, satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys Wilson Dunster, Percy Sieff, Academy Award Nominee Richard E. Grant, and many more. It is narrated by Oscar winner and multiple award-winning actor James Earl Jones, who also worked with Athol in New York.
Central was honoured to host this event so that members of the School’s wider community could have an opportunity to watch The Space: Theatre of Survival and learn more about this remarkable arts venue and the artists associated with it. Special thanks must be extended to Claudette Williams in particular whose work, with support from the Dean’s Office, made this screening possible.
For further information about The Space Theatre and The Space: Theatre of Survival, please visit the film’s official website.
