Sandton’s ‘Theatre on the Square’ back to life after Covid scare

Just less than a year ago, Sandton’s Theatre on the Square was about to shut its doors for good as Covid’s financial hangover squeezed the life out of performing arts.

Last year, it needed R2 million to stay afloat. Fast-forward a year and Theatre on the Square has just launched a Friday lunch music programme this month, featuring a line-up of exceptional musicians.

Ticket prices range from R60 for members to R100 at the box office. This comes in addition to a fresh line-up of night-time shows and corporate events.

The theatre survived. It relied on generous strangers through a crowdfunding campaign and private donors.

Charismatic owner Daphne Kuhn launched the reopening of the theatre on YouTube in May last year with a plea for patronage.

And South Africa listened. The ThundaFund crowdfunding campaign was launched last year and made a significant contribution, just more than 10%, to the total funding ideal.

It was an innovative campaign that saw donors purchase packages started at R500 with future benefits included, such as discounted show tickets through to corporate packages at R10 000 annually.

At the time, Kuhn said: “Our theatre has brought joy, upliftment, entertainment, and education to thousands of theatre lovers, always embracing diversity and challenging minds. It cannot be allowed to die.” She said:

“If it hadn’t been for the support of the public during the pandemic, we would have had to close.”

There was simply no support from national or provincial government, she added.

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“We had to tackle it ourselves and managed to save the business through a relentless fund raising campaign that helped us not only keep the lights on, but also to take care of our employees.”

Kuhn hinted that the Theatre on the Square was still looking for a naming rights sponsor.

“We are back in business, we have survived. We are ready.”

While Kuhn is elated about getting through this dark period, she said the work really starts now. The team is working night and day to develop and produce exciting line-ups.

She said: “There is so much good television out there, but nothing beats the magic of a live performance. The dynamic between stage and audience cannot be replicated on the small screen.

“It is an intimate, entertaining, educational, and social experience.

“People are longing to get out, people are longing for experiences and the interaction of a live performance delivers all that, and more.”

It is also important to Kuhn that the industry gets working again.

She said: “And it is our responsibility to help get the arts back on its feet. Artists are longing to get back on stage, musicians want to perform. It’s hard to keep alive but we will bring it all back on track.”