By Tokologo Tau
The Market Theatre Foundation has officially launched the much-anticipated return of the Kippies Fringe Programme, reintroducing this iconic platform to South African audiences with a bold, unapologetic and artistically daring lineup. The launch took place on 30 May 2025 at the Market Theatre precinct in Newtown, Johannesburg, marking not just a new season but a new era for the country’s performance arts sector.
Running from 26th of June through to December 6th 2025, the Kippies Fringe promises to be a crucible of radical creativity, housing intimate performances in the 50-seater Kippies venue—adjacent to the Market Theatre building. This space, once known for its jazz legacy, is now being reinvented as a powerful, multi-genre performance incubator.
According to Philangezwi Nxumalo, one of the programme’s artistic curators, the return of Kippies is more than just a revival; it is a necessary cultural reawakening. “These themes aren’t just relevant; they are urgent,” Nxumalo says. “We’re living in a time where theatre must do more than entertain—it must interrupt, heal, educate, and transform.”
A Curation of Urgency and Courage
The 2025 edition, curated under the theme “The Art Cave”, promises an evocative experience, navigating through youth resistance, musical legacy, queer pride, ancestral healing, and personal reckoning. Each production is a call to action—disruptive in form and grounded in emotional truth.
Tebogo Malapane, who spearheaded the shortlisting process, describes the curation as both surreal and transformational. “As a creative deeply concerned with the evolution of theatre, I’m not here to replicate tradition. I’m here to stretch it, flip it, and reimagine it,” he notes. “The Kippies Fringe is more than a stage; it’s a testing ground for the raw, the risky, and the radically new.”
The selection process was rigorous, considering submissions across a range of disciplines—spoken word, theatre, music, satire, and hybrid forms. The goal? To ensure that the Kippies Fringe lives up to its name: an edgy, independent space where the next generation of performance artists can truly be born.
Highlights of the Kippies Fringe Line-up
Audiences can expect a magnetic mix of performances, such as:
- ‘The Hyena’s Tuckshop’ by Jo’burg-based Mongezi Ntukwana, a satirical, award-winning theatre piece that dissects post-apartheid capitalism with wit and irreverent humour.
- ‘Halala Mr. Party’ by veteran storyteller Makhubalo Ikaneng, a deeply emotional narrative that examines how South Africans often mask generational trauma and pain under the guise of joy and celebration.
- ‘Faces’, directed by Masedi Manenye from KwaZulu-Natal, features a cast of University of Zululand alumni and emerges from the Beyond the Curriculum initiative. This project bridges rural realities with national performance spaces, championing community-rooted narratives on professional platforms.
- ‘The Jokeologist’ by Themba Nhlapo, which breaks all genre rules by fusing stand-up comedy, spoken word, and live music—delivering a uniquely South African comedic experience with lyrical flow and soul.
Each of these productions brings something rare and necessary to the table—unfiltered voice, cultural weight, and theatrical experimentation.
Reviving Kippies as a Cultural Powerhouse
Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation, Greg Homann, emphasised the return of the Kippies Fringe as a vital gesture toward supporting the country’s artistic ecosystem. “Utilising Kippies as a fringe venue ensures professional support for up-and-coming performers and artists,” Homann explains. “We’re creating an alternative space to encounter new voices—works that are still on the fringe, cultivating a fresh and dynamic layer of live-performance artists that could possibly feed into our main programming in the future.”
Kippies has always been a space of emergence. Once echoing with jazz brilliance, it now pulses with the sounds of theatre’s next great voices—young, fearless, and beautifully unpredictable.
A Celebration of The Fringe
The 30 May 2025 launch event was itself a celebration of this new chapter. Attended by artists, creatives, media practitioners, funders, and members of the public, it featured preview performances, speeches from curators, and an atmosphere charged with creative energy. For many in the room, it was a homecoming—a space that finally said yes to risk, yes to vision, and yes to untold stories.
More than just a seasonal programme, the Kippies Fringe 2025 is a movement, one that redefines the role of theatre in our society. It asks: What stories aren’t being told? Who hasn’t been seen? And more importantly: What happens when we make room for the radical, the wounded, the dreaming, and the defiant?
Don’t Miss It
If you are a lover of the arts, a curious cultural explorer, or someone yearning for work that challenges the status quo, Kippies Fringe 2025 is not to be missed. It’s theatre that doesn’t play it safe—and that’s exactly what we need right now.
For tickets, full show listings, and updates, visit:
www.markettheatre.co.za
Or follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #KippiesFringe2025.