Kalklig

The same twelve people, six plays a year

A repertory theatre company on Church Square in Makhanda. Six productions between February and November, in English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans.

The 2027 season

Kalklig has been in the old Wesleyan hall on Church Square since 2009. A hundred and forty seats, a raked house, and a stage barely deep enough for the sets we insist on building anyway.

We work in repertory, which is an unfashionable way to run a theatre. Twelve actors are on salary for the whole year — so the woman playing a magistrate in March is running the wardrobe store in June and teaching Grade 10s in Joza in August. Nobody is auditioned in for a run and let go at the end of it.

Six productions open between February and November. Two are new South African plays we commission and pay for ourselves; the rest is work we think the Eastern Cape should be able to see without driving to Gqeberha to do it. The 2027 season is set out below.

The 2027 season

Why we keep a company

Casting a play at a time is cheaper and I have done it for years. What you get is a stranger who learns the blocking, takes the money and leaves, and a theatre that starts again from nothing every six weeks. Keeping twelve people on salary swallows more than half our annual budget and it is the only reason our March work is better than our February work. They know the rake, they know each other, and they know that if a scene is not working they can say so at ten in the morning without it costing them the job. Nomalanga Sityebi, artistic director since 2016

The company

Zandile Mtshali
Zandile MtshaliEnsemble, since 2014
Pieter Loots
Pieter LootsEnsemble, since 2011
Athenkosi Jara
Athenkosi JaraEnsemble, since 2019
Marlene Adonis
Marlene AdonisEnsemble and voice, since 2016

Voices

In one year I watched the same actress play a nun, a taxi owner and Lady Macbeth in that hall. You do not get that anywhere else in this province.
Bulelwa Nkosi · Subscriber since 2012
They brought Vygie to our school hall in Alicedale, set up in forty minutes and said nothing about the state of the floor. The Grade 6s have not stopped talking about it.
Elmarie du Toit · Head of drama, Alicedale Primary
Two hundred rand for a seat, and a company that has been working together for a decade. I take clients there instead of to dinner now.
Sipho Radebe · Makhanda
I understudied for six weeks in 2023 and learned more than in three years of training. Nobody in that room was precious about anything.
Kagiso Mabaso · Former intern, now at the Baxter

One letter a month

Casting, rehearsal photographs, and the on-sale date before it goes public.

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Tickets

Kalklig Theatre Old Wesleyan Hall, Church Square Makhanda 6139 046 622 4180 Box office Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–17:00, and one hour before curtain Schools bookings: skole@kalklig.co.za Season subscriptions: seisoen@kalklig.co.za