THEATRE:
My Hole My Home gives a face and voice to the homeless
Had its writer, John Ledwaba — homeless himself for some time — lived to see this production, he would be very proud
When celebrated playwright John Ledwaba died on Christmas Day in 2017, there was a memorial service for him at the Market Theatre where his talent was discovered and honed in the 1980s. It was also the theatre where some of his plays charmed many audiences, and for which he was recognised by winning the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1995. At the memorial service, Market Theatre artistic director James Ngcobo announced that Ledwaba had completed the writing of another play, My Hole My Home, before he died, and that the Market Theatre was going to stage it. It is on at the Market’s Barney Simon Theatre, named after the late theatre director. Simon played an important role in developing Ledwaba — as he did for many artists, especially those from the townships where formal training opportunities were non-existent. Ledwaba worked closely with another self-taught playwright, Matsemela Manaka, who also hailed from Diepkloof. Ledwaba and Manaka co-wrote the seminal theatrical producti...
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