Cape Town’s Baxter Theater, exploring new approaches to theater development
Hosted by the University of Cape Town, and led by Mannie Manim, a seasoned theater professional, who says, “The theatre I love to be part of involves a South African play, and an audience that fills the theatre from all corners of our society. That’s the jackpot!” While working in the theater during the apartheid years, Manim said, “I found all kinds of ways to cheat the system (but) in the end, that didn’t work for me either because it lacked dignity.” A class theater with a class director.
As part of our overall effort to learn more about the theater in Africa, we wish to introduce you to the Baxter Theater in Cape Town, South Africa. In all candor, we picked it randomly, sort of out of a hat, and then ended up having some fun!
The Baxter Theater is actually part of the University of Cape Town, UCT. It forms part of the university. UCT completed the Baxter in 1977 thanks to a generous bequest made in 1960 through the will of the late Dr. W. Duncan Baxter, to establish a theatre that would “develop and cultivate the arts in Cape Town and the adjacent districts”. The Baxter formally opened on August 1, 1977, during the apartheid era.
Even through the difficult years of racial segregation its doors remained open to everyone and despite sanctions it thrived, drawing on indigenous talent and creating a uniquely South African theatre tradition.
The Baxter Theatre Centre provides an exciting forum for the celebration of life, which is the essence of live theatre, music and dance. It is one of the major live theatre venues in Cape Town and has always been at the forefront of the performing arts both as a popular venue and as a leading producer.
The Baxter Theatre Centre consists of the Main Theatre with 666 seats, the Concert Hall with a fine Von Beckerath organ and seating for 636, and the more intimate Sanlam Studio Theatre with 166 seats. All are located in one building.
Main Theater, The Baxter
Concert Hall, The Baxter
Mannie Manim is the theater’s director. He is a rather famous name in South African theater, with a career spanning more than 45 years. He was a co-founder of The Market Theater in Johannesburg. He also served as Director of the Performing Arts Administration of the University of the Witwatersrand. He describes himself a facilitator, saying:
“I’m a person who helps people to make their dreams come true.”
The driving force behind hiring him for this position, according to the university chancellor, was to explore new approaches to theater development and chart a new future direction for the Baxter.
Mr. Manim has won a large number of awards over the years, including the Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters, awarded by France in 1990, and Gold Medals presented by the Simon van der Stel Foundation and the Academy of Science and Arts in 1995 and 1996. To help Americans understand what these awards might mean, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep won the Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. It is also worth mentioning, since we did an article on the movie, that Director Raoul Peck won this same award for the movie Lumumba, awarded for recovering a key figure of African political life and how film can expand our vision of history.
Manim contended with the rigors of apartheid for many years while in the theater. That was a time when the government attempted to restrict work with all the races. Manim commented:
“It became a real problem for me. I found all kinds of ways to cheat the system, taking plays into the townships and organizing ‘dress rehearsals’ to get people to the theatre. In the end, that didn’t work for me either because it lacked dignity.”
He then started his own organization, called The Company, and built up a group of actors. The Company won the tender to start The Market Theatre in Johannesburg in 1975, and formally opened the theatre on June 30, 1976. He described this as an “extraordinary, creative time,” saying that the success of The Market was the product of a large number of role players, from the artistic and corporate communities, to the city and South Africa.
In 1990, after 15 years at The Market, he needed a change, and joined the University of the Witwatersrand as Director of the Performing Arts Administration.
He also started his own company, Mannie Manim Productions, that has staged a wide range of productions over the past 10 years. These included works by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema, Jonathin Tolins, William Kentridge and others.
In a great quote, Manim says:
“The theatre I love to be part of involves a South African play, and an audience that fills the theatre from all corners of our society. That’s the jackpot. That’s when you hold a mirror to the society we are living in — when people need to see what you are doing, so that they can talk about it, learn from it, and be enriched by the experience.”
The Baxter’s schedule is jam-packed. In order to give just a little taste, we selected The Story Spinning Theatre Company in its children’s entertainment project called In the Lion’s Den, which played in September, directed by Pippa Ross-Duffy.
Here’s the write-up with some pictures:
What have the roaming Kalahari lions who get captured on Farmer Braam’s farm got to do with the famous story of Daniel in the lions’ den? The Story Spinning Theatre is getting set to take you on a thrilling journey from present-day Africa to the far-off days in Babylon when Darius was King of Persia.
Come and meet his sidekicks Domino, Draft and Daniel himself. Daniel is a good and faithful man and quickly becomes the King’s favorite, which makes the other two jealous, so they plot his downfall.
Meet lions Roary, Clawdia and Lionel of ‘The Den’, a disco in the zoo of King Darius. These hungry lions who, of late, have eaten nothing but rice, are looking forward to a special feast. For an awful moment it looks as though that feast might be Daniel himself, but an angel comes to the rescue and Daniel is the ultimate survivor. Fortunately, the lions don’t go hungry.
Pippa Ross-Duffy wrote this hilariously funny yet poignant version of Daniel in the Lions’ Den for SAtv, and has adapted it for the Story Spinning Theatre’s September production. It is suitable for all ages.