The Isango Ensemble (isango meaning "gate" or "port" or "gateway" in Xhosa and Zulu) is a Cape Town-based theatre company led by director Mark Dornford-May and music directors Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantyis. It was established in 2000, when Dornford-May and conductor Charles Hazlewood travelled to South Africa to form a lyric theatre company for the Spier Festival; most of the company members are drawn from the townships around Cape Town. The company's work focuses on re-imagining classics from the Western theatre canon, finding a new context for the stories within a South African or township setting and developing new productions based on South African issues, stories and novels.
The IsangoEnsemble (isango meaning "gate" or "port" or "gateway" in Xhosa and Zulu) is a Cape Town-based theatre company led by director Mark Dornford-May...
at Shakespeare's Globe in 2011 as The Globe Mysteries. In 2001, the IsangoEnsemble produced an African version of the Chester Cycle at the Garrick Theatre...
appeared together in performance at the Lyceum Theatre. In 2001, the IsangoEnsemble produced an African version of the Chester Cycle at the Garrick Theatre...
at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France In 2022, the 28-member IsangoEnsemble of Cape Town, South Africa premiered a reimagined version of Treemonisha...
in townships". The book was adapted into a stage production by the IsangoEnsemble and premiered at the Young Vic in London in 2016. Steinberg's dual...
cooperation with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation) The Magic Flute (IsangoEnsemble) An Iliad (Homer's Coat) The Shadow Whose Prey The Hunter Becomes (Back...
Design Programme. He is co-chair of the International Council of the IsangoEnsemble of South Africa and Patron of the theatre at the Mulberry School. Between...
of Cape Town's African Centre for Cities active (approximate date). IsangoEnsemble theatre group active. 2008 Cape Town TV and Hillsong Church established...
single, "The Other Side". October - A Man of Good Hope, a musical by IsangoEnsemble based on a book by Jonny Steinberg, is performed at the Young Vic in...