The South African theatre industry needs transformation, the co-producer of the musical The Lion King, Lebo M, said on Tuesday.
He expressed his thoughts following the Naledi Awards in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
He said the fact that so few black people won awards in the 23 categories was a sorry indication of the role of black people in the theatre industry.
”It is unacceptable that so few black people feature in this important event that recognises excellence in a critical industry,” he said.
”The reasons behind this poor showing should be probed and action must be taken to ensure that black people increase their significance in the industry.
”This is too important an issue to keep quiet about and we cannot allow business in the industry to continue as is.
”To pretend we have a healthy fully representative industry is a fallacy and we will only be fooling ourselves. All stakeholders, such as producers, theatre owners, artists, practitioners, and audiences must do something about it,” he said.
Lebo pointed out that it was a pity that The Lion King had not won more awards.
”The Lion King is hailed in all other territories it plays and the South African public have voted for it by attending in record numbers, and selling over 550 000 tickets. It is a pity the South African awards did not give it the same recognition.”
Naledi Theatre Awards executive director Dawn Lindberg insisted that the independent panel of judges based its decisions purely on merit. – Sapa