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Isitha Sabantu Teaser

All New Musical Drama – Isitha Sabantu Stages the Plight of Environmental Defenders Empatheatre, in partnership with Ibsen Scope, The Market Theatre and Home in Crisis, proudly presents the world premiere of “Isitha Sabantu”- an exciting reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” for contemporary South Africa. Running at The Market Theatre from 6 – 22 March 2026, “Isitha Sabantu” is a theatrically rich and visually bold musical drama where land rights, extractivism, climate crisis and the safety of environmental defenders collide in the country’s ‘thick present’. Winner of one of the 2024 Ibsen Scope Grants, “Isitha Sabantu” interweaves theatre, praise poetry, choral song and puppetry at an awe-inspiring scale and invites audiences to a world where justice is more than a legal ideal, but a deeply ecological, spiritual and communal practice. The script is inspired by the courage and legacy of slain human rights defender Fikile Ntshangase, who was assassinated for her environmental justice activism to protect her community from a proposed coal mine in KwaZulu-Natal. The story follows the tranquil village of Hlanzeka, where the bonds that knit this community quickly begin to fray when residents discover that their lives and homes lie directly in the path of a planned new coal mine. With courage and relentless faith, an environmental defender known as Mam Nomsa (portrayed by Mpume Mthombeni) leads the charge against the land-hungry mine and fosters a fragile resistance to defend her home, history and ancestors. Churches, school halls, fields and kitchens become her battle grounds while bees, birds, Elephants and a faithful dog guide her way as she tries to unite her people against the destruction masked as progress that wears an all too familiar face. Worn down by the might of the system, soon the growl of machines reverberates across the same valley, poisoning the hearts and minds of the people of Hlanzeka along with their water and land. Her community, too, rejects her defence of their land, seeing her instead as standing in their way to prosperity. “Her community,” states co-writer and director Neil Coppen, “are not united and she must confront corrupt traditional leaders, mounting threats to her family's safety, and the bitter irony of being declared an enemy of the very people whose lives and land she is fighting to preserve. Joined by a puppeteered elephant matriarch called Ndlovukazi, their journeys pose urgent questions about who decides what progress looks like. What is the cost of development when the dead are displaced along with the living? And who becomes the ‘enemy’ when truth threatens power?” The highly anticipated brand new production features an incredible cast of twelve, led by Mpume Mthombeni, Tony Miyambo, Billy Langa, Minenhle Skhosana, Zesuliwe Hadebe and Sabelo Sekgoto. It is co-written by Neil Coppen, Tony Miyambo, Mpume Mthombeni and Dr Dylan McGarry and directed by Coppen, with original music, score and choreography by Nhlanhla Mahlangu, set and puppetry design by Dylan McGarry and Craig Leo. Puppetry direction is by Craig Leo, with puppets manufactured by Ukwanda Puppetry Collective in Cape Town.