Encouraging a love of theatre

APPLAUSE: Sue Pam Grants Curl Up And Dye is on at The Hillbrow Theatre, and has made 25 tickets available at discounted prices for Take a Child to the Theatre Today.

For the second time since its inception, national Take a Child to the Theatre Today day, takes place in South Africa on March 20. This was announced at a small gathering at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town last week. It is spearheaded by Association Internationale du Theatre pour l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse or Assitej, and is trans-lated to the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People.

Assitej’s international president and executive director of Assitej SA, Yvette Hardie, said that theatre is “kind of a gift that is given in the present moment and we believe, particularly in the South African context, that giving children the opportunity to see an alternative reality from their lives (through theatre) is important”. These realities will be shows such as comedies, dramas, children’s theatre (even for infants) as well as fundraisers all over the country. Take a Child to the Theatre Today is celebrated all over the globe and here it isn’t confined to a single day.

For instance, in a bid to highlight Take a Child to the Theatre Today, The National Children’s Theatre in Gauteng has been staging the Naledi Award-nominated Goggas from March 9 and will do so until April 21. On March 20, the theatre will stage Goggas for two underprivileged schools. This year, Youth Development at Joburg Theatre has chosen 30 Grade 7 pupils from Nkgoli Primary School in Pimville, Soweto, to be a part of Mzansi Shapers workshops. Following this, they will perform a half-hour show, based on what they’ve learned, for other pupils at the Joburg Theatre. The selected 30 will also then see Don Quixote at the same theatre. Several companies and a church have come together to sponsor this particular initiative.

Heather Mac will donate a performance at the Assitej SA Fundraiser at Old Mutual Theatre On The Square in Sandton on March 24, while the Hillbrow Theatre sells 25 tickets at discounted prices to see Sue Pam Grant’s Curl Up And Dye for Take a Child to the Theatre Today. In KwaZulu-Natal, Mim and John’s Supa Dupa Puppet Theatre will entertain kids at Brown’s School Mariannhill on March 20. Pamela Tancsik takes Pinocchio to a children’s home on the day and invites students from the Durban University of Technology to learn and comment on the performance.

Directed by Daniel Buckland, Ubom!’s Betti and Yeti will be at the Knysna Literary Festival and tour to schools in Plettenberg Bay for Take a Child to the Theatre Today. The Artscape Theatre in Cape Town will not only provide the young people of the Desmond Tutu Foundation in Masiphumelele a free backstage tour but the theatre will also promote Take a Child to the Theatre Today through workshops later on in the year as well as a Youth Day celebration showcase. As Marlene le Roux, director of audience development and education at the Artscape Theatre, says: “Even if a parent earns R5 million a year, if the parent wasn’t brought to the theatre at a young age, they will never buy their child a ticket to the theatre.” And if these theatre practitioners have anything to do with it, the time to take a child to the theatre is not just today, but right now.

• For more information on all of the participants in Take a Child to the Theatre Today, visit www.assitej.org.za