Veteran playwright Duma Ndlovu calls for the renaming of the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg, to be named after legendary actor John Kani.
“I would like to support the call for the Playhouse Theatre to be renamed the Mbongeni Ngema Theatre. While at it, I would like to ask the million-dollar question. Why do we always wait until someone has died to name places after them? Why can’t we do it while they are still alive? The Athol Fugard Theatre in Cape Town is an excellent example of honouring someone while they are still alive,” Ndlovu said.
“It would be a fitting tribute to a man who has contributed immensely to the culture and the body of South African theatre. Kani and Winston Ntshona are the only actors who were awarded the prestigious Tony Awards on Broadway for their repertory presentation of Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island. (Handspring Puppet Company was awarded a special Tony as a company). Ngema and Sarafina were nominated in 1987 but did not win the coveted award. How Do I Know? Because I was sitting at that theatre waiting for the names to be called, as one of the associate producers I would have been one of those running to the stage to collect the award but we were massively disappointed,” he said.
Duma Ndlovu further explained why Kani deserves the honour.
“I would suggest if I put my two pennyworths, to the powers that be, that alongside changing the name of the Playhouse the institution should also adopt Ngema’s efforts to train and uplift young black kids. His passion for creating plays was only matched by his passion for training and developing young talent. Unfortunately, those of us who worked with him know that he was not strong in administration and therefore the institution that he constantly tried to build and sustain, Committed Artists, always suffered when he fell on hard times. So Committed Artists, the hub he continuously tried to use as an institution never really took off the way it should have, could have if he had succeeded in finding an institution to adopt it and run it professionally,” he said.
“Sometimes we creative people are not the best people to try and run our institutions. It is best to find other people to do it for us. I am of course talking from experience as well. If the newly named Mbongeni Ngema Theatre would also adopt Committed Artists and develop a permanent training centre for young artists, they would have done more than pay lip service to the calls that always come at someone’s funeral. This is doable.” he said.
