{"id":1068,"date":"2016-06-13T14:15:34","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2016-06-13T14:15:34","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:15:34","slug":"south-africas-citizen-artists-malcolm-purkey-and-johannesburg-from-soweto-to-hillbrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/2016\/06\/south-africas-citizen-artists-malcolm-purkey-and-johannesburg-from-soweto-to-hillbrow.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s Citizen Artists: Malcolm Purkey and Johannesburg, from Soweto to Hillbrow*"},"content":{"rendered":"

*This is the fourth and final essay in a series of \u201cWe the Audience\u201d posts designed to introduce my readers to the citizen artists working in some of South Africa\u2019s most challenged areas. [For a look at all four essays, start reading here<\/a><\/em>.] Today\u2019s essay focuses on Malcolm Purkey,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>who, of course, does not actually need an introduction. As a key figure in the anti-apartheid theatre scene in Johannesburg in the 1970s and 80s, Purkey remains one of the city\u2019s cultural leaders and an important voice for social change through arts activism.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the first things Malcolm Purkey tells me as we drive toward the city center is that Johannesburg is the world\u2019s largest urban center with no natural waterway as part of its topography. Jo\u2019burg was established in 1886 not by colonists looking for a logical settlement site (water being both the source of life and the most effective means of travel), but by treasure hunters looking for the next El Dorado. The city sits on the Witwatersrand, a 56-kilometer slice of sedimentary rock filled with a variety of precious metals, among them gold and diamonds. He points out what remains of the gold mining industry as we zoom up the highway.<\/p>\n

I am lucky to be getting one of Malcolm\u2019s famous cultural tours of Jo\u2019burg. Lucky for two reasons: one, Purkey is a native and knows the city intimately; and two, he is an utterly fascinating person with such a rich professional story that I feel like I\u2019ve been dropped inside one of the history of theatre textbooks I use in my college classrooms. Throughout his forty + year career, Malcolm\u2019s artistic life has been indelibly tied to his political consciousness as a South African citizen\u2014there is no separating the \u201cart\u201d from the \u201cpolitics\u201d or his artmaking from his social practice. He began his career at the Nunnery and Junction Avenue theatres in the 1970s, where he worked with other activists to challenge apartheid and developed a workshop methodology for mixed race ensembles to create socially engaged material. Now in his mid-60s, he currently serves as Dean of the Johannesburg branch of the AFDA School of Film, Television and Performance while continuing to write and direct new work. His list of awards is too long for this essay, but you can check it out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"market\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our first stop is the internationally renowned Market Theatre<\/a>\u00a0in the Newtown section of the inner city.\u00a0The site is a former produce market built in the late 1880s soon after the city was first settled; today the space retains the original Edwardian three-cornered roof and iron fa\u00e7ade, but the unrestricted interior of the eastern side of the market has given way to three theaters (proscenium, thrust and a flexible configurations) and a series of lobby, lounge and dining venues. As we wander through the building Malcolm greets former colleagues\u2014he was the Artistic Director here from 2005 to 2013 and is still actively involved as a visiting director. In between greetings he offers me two important facts about the Market Theatre\u2019s history:<\/p>\n