The Market Theatre

The Market Theatre Blue Plaque - City of Joburg

The Market Theatre was founded in Johannesburg in 1976 by Mannie Manim and Barney Simon, and housed in the 1913 Indian Fruit Market. The theatre pioneered indigenous African theatre without state subsidies, its directors under constant threat for staging controversial contemporary plays performed by multiracial casts in front of multiracial audiences. It would become internationally renowned as South Africa’s "Theatre of the Struggle”.

Plaque Location:
Plaque Address:

Market Theatre, Lilian Ngoyi Street Newtown

Blue Plaque Unveiling Ceremony (City of Johannesburg)

Old photo of Market Theatre with Newtown Cooling Towers in the background

Photos of the Market Theatre (The Heritage Portal)