THE SUNDAY TIMES

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The philistines of Auckland Park never know when they have a good thing going.  They commission an excellent programme and then consign it to the fringes of late night viewing. 

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Which is what they did with The Whole World Comes Out to Play (SABC 1, Wednesday 10.15 pm), a doccie on the street theatre festival held in Johannesburg recently by French and South African artists. The programme, produced and directed by Nicky Newman, captured the beautifully bonkers and wonderfully weird world of street theatre. 

 

One wonderful thing is that the street theatre groups such as the Back Door Initiative (BDI) shared their skills with community theatre groups from Gauteng.  The French also learnt a few tricks from the South Africans.  Some of the games that South African children play every day were adapted into wonderful theatre. 

 

Another community group that was featured was the Thesele Creative Society.  I am quite familiar with the work of both Thesele and Thuthuka as I had the opportunity to see it live in the townships of the Vaal.  I was inspired, and came back with the conclusion that a much more vibrant and daring theatre is happening out there in the communities than we are able to see in the purpose-built conventional theatre spaces in the cities.