Theatre Arts is turning the tables on load-shedding woes by shining a light on moving theatre in the dark.
While South Africa has seen more than 16 years of load shedding, residents have become resilient despite the regular stage changes.
Impacting various individuals including businesses, the arts have also had to learn to roll with the punches of having their equipment damaged by the rolling blackouts. Among the challenges are having to cancel productions.
Theatre Arts have since flipped the script and announced the upcoming Theatre in the Dark production to take stage from February 15-25.
Showcasing 11 productions, this project is the brainchild of Theatre Arts’ visionary director, Caroline Calburn.
Calburn says: “Over the last few years it has become increasingly frustrating running a theatre with an ever-shifting load shedding schedule where we can rocket from stage 1 to 4 with no warning.”
“Over the last year, many people have argued that what Theatre Arts needs is a generator and the support to raise funds for one, but in the end I decided on a different route – to schedule everything around the possibility of stage 6 load shedding.
“While the cheapest option, it did my head in, trying to schedule seasons, technicals and all that goes in to trying to keep a theatre busy and active.
“Finally, I vented my desperation on Facebook by deciding that I was going to have a season of work that required no load-shedding schedule. I could schedule around the needs of the productions as opposed to load shedding.
“The obvious idea, was a season in the dark.
“The response from the artistic community was amazing; it felt like it liberated artists to think differently, to think economically, to think around the metaphorical function of light rather than its practical use – the ultimate extension of what light in the theatre is.
“It also felt like a return to the days of radio, for those of us who grew up on radio plays – lying in the dark with pictures exploding in our heads, the possibilities feel limitless.”
Calburn said she had little faith in getting the production off the ground due to a lack of funding, but was motivated to continue after the National Arts Council responded to her application.
“And so I was able to dream up a festival of work that required no electricity – a season of unplugged work.”
Calburn encouraged artists to ‘respond to the times’.
“It requires a huge amount of energy resources to put on large-scale productions. Limitations are often what inspire the greatest creativity. Gone are the days when we could rely on plugging a light into a wall. Theatre in the Dark is going to be an illuminating experience for everyone.”
The Theatre in the Dark season, is made up of 11 different productions and covers a wide range of genres and includes theatre for minors.
“We hope that audiences can experience a wide range of work that enables them to embrace the darkness and find the light within themselves – hope from grief, the spark from a new idea or a moment of clarity, seeing the world differently, feeling a shift of emotion, understanding something for the first time. Each piece of work is vastly different. Not all productions are in the theatre.
“You’ll be invited to eat the stars at the SA Astronomical Observatory in Observatory, and share a tea over stories of grief in a lounge. But wherever the production is, you will contemplate darkness and light and I hope by the end, feel the embrace of community.”
Tickets for the Theatre in the Dark season will be available online on the Theatre Arts website, from December 15.