"The stage lights of the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex (MBTC) shone bright on Monday evening as the 10th annual Iphulo Drama Festival opened in grand style, but the spotlight was not only on the performers- it was also on the ambitious vision for the future of the arts in the Bay.

MBTC chief executive Monde Ngonyama used the occasion to unveil bold plans for the city’s arts landscape, including the proposed Kani-Ntshona-Fugard (KNF) Performing Arts Precinct, a project with a projected cost of more than R20m, after the completion of a detailed feasibility study."

This is reported by Simtembile Mgidi, The Herald, 10 Feb 2026, click here
https://www.theherald.co.za/news/2026-02-10-theatre-complexs-r20m-arts-vision-unveiled-in-gqeberha/

Pentacion present Camino a la Meca (The Road to Mecca) at the Teatro Municipal de Torrevieja on 6 Feb 2026.

The director is Claudio Tolcachir and the players are Lola Herrera, Natalia Dicenta and Carlos Olalla.

"La obra se inspira en la figura real de Helen Martins, una artista que, enfrentándose a las convenciones sociales de su tiempo, convirtiĂł su vivienda en un singular santuario repleto de figuras y creaciones orientadas simbĂłlicamente hacia La Meca.  El montaje aborda cuestiones profundamente humanas —la reafirmaciĂłn personal, la libertad en la madurez y la resistencia frente a las limitaciones impuestas por el entorno— en un contexto marcado por la dureza del apartheid sudafricano.".

For the theatre website click here
https://torrevieja.com/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-exile.html

An early short film from Ken Russell.  In three segments Russell combines music and imagery to convey moods of London.
For more on the film click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-tv-monitor-shorts.html

Master Harold and the Boys with John Kani in Los Angeles, USA

A chance to see John Kani in "Master Harold"... and the Boys.  Performances are at the Gil Cates Theater, Geffen Theatre, LA from 8 April - 10 May 2026.

The co-directors are Emily Mann and Tarell Alvin McCraney, scenic designer Beowulf Boritt is and costumes are by Susan Hillferty.

The players are John Kani as Sam, Ben Beattey as Hally and Nyasha Hatendi as Willie.

"Step into the charged atmosphere of a 1950s South African tea shop in Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold”…and the Boys, a gripping, deeply personal drama that unflinchingly confronts the realities of race, power, and betrayal. On a rainy afternoon, Hally, a white teenager, passes the time with Sam and Willie, two Black waiters who have helped raise him by filling the gaps of a broken home with warmth, wisdom, and laughter. But as the day unfolds, playful memories give way to painful truths, and a single moment threatens to shatter the fragile bond between them forever".

For the theatre website click here
https://www.geffenplayhouse.org/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-port-elizabeth.html

Ken Russell's Gothic will shown on 6 February 2026 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline MA.

“1816. A sprawling villa in Switzerland is the setting for the night of the “Haunted Summer,” when five famous friends gather around an ancient skull to conjure up their darkest fears.

Poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelley; Shelley’s fiancée, Mary Godwin; Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont; and Byron’s friend, Dr. John Polidori, spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in an orgiastic frenzy of shock lunacy that later inspired Mary Shelley to write the classic Frankenstein and Dr. Polidori to pen The Vampyre, which became the basis for the creation of Dracula. One fateful evening, two legends were born, in Ken Russell’s Gothic”.

For the cinema site click here
https://coolidge.org/
For more on Gothic click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-gothic.html