Malcolm Buys
The Christo Davids Production Laaitie Mettie Biscuits currently on stage at the Market Theatre is a good example to make the case for Being Deliberate About Supporting Coloured Theatre Productions Aimed at Coloured Audiences.
We need to not just be hyping up theatre productions by people from our communities telling stories about our communities. We need to put our monies where our mouths are.
We need to support them by buying the tickets and filling up those theatre seats. – Ed
The Theatrical production “Laaitie Mettie Biscuits” tells the story of Noah and is inspired by the life of Nathaniel Julies from Eldorado Park and the circumstances surrounding his death. This stage production written and directed by Christo Davids, and starring Wayne van Rooyen, Stephanie Baartman, Carla Classen and Joshwin Dyson, places a spotlight on people with Mental Disabilities.
Nathaniel Julies was a 16-year-old boy with Down syndrome who was shot dead by the police meters from his home in Eldorado Park. The case has not yet been settled.
Christo Davids: “The question we must answer is: What and who is normal? Is Noah abnormal in a normal society? Or is Noah normal in an abnormal community?”
The Case For Being Deliberate About supporting Coloured Productions
From my point of view as someone who has been working with the Market Theatre in Audience Development for many years, here’s why you need to support Coloured Theatre Productions like “Laaitie Mettie Biscuits” currently on at the Market Theatre.
- Big Theatre Houses like the Market Theatre books an entire production from a Festival like KKNK or Grahamstown Arts Festival to run for a number of weeks at their Theatres.
- These productions run, on average, for a month at a cost of say R200 000 these costs include Artists fees and numerous production related costs like setting up the props and setting the lights in the theatre for the effect etc.
- So, at the end of the month when the Production has run its course and the Accountants and Creative Directors reflect on the success of its season, they note that Productions that caters for a “Coloured Audience” is not well supported and they reach the following conclusions:
- We cannot stage productions like Joe Barber or many others because their intended Audience just don’t buy Tickets. As an NPO Market Theatre needs to sell tickets to sustain the institution and keep at active to stage many other cultural relevant productions
- The impression created is that our creative tastes are not catered for in the Cultural Economy failing to realize we are the architects of our own demise with Isolation Politics and just an apathetic approach to be a part of a whole.
- Young Artists from our Universities and Professional Academies are not given opportunities in the Creative Economy because there is just no Demand – The Data/Number do not lie. We Do Not pay to create a vibrant and viable creative Economy for our Communities.
So let’s reflect on this – I’m sure there are many different views but like I’ve said…
The Data Doesn’t Lie.
The Christo Davids play Laaitie Mettie Biscuits is currently being performed at the Market Theatre for a season starting from 2 – 27 October 2024.
Book for Laaitie Mettie Biscuits on WebTickets
