The Market Theatre is South Africa's most historically significant theatre and still one of its most artistically interesting. Built in the shell of a Victorian-era fruit market in Newtown, it opened in 1976 and immediately became the most important venue for anti-apartheid art in the country. Athol Fugard, Barney Simon, Percy Mtwa, and Mbongeni Ngema all staged work here — plays like Woza Albert! and Sizwe Banzi is Dead that could not be performed elsewhere because they were mixed-race, politically provocative, or both.
The theatre complex has several performance spaces of different sizes, a bar, a restaurant, and regular programming in drama, music, and dance. It is still the venue where serious South African theatre happens — the calibre of productions is high and the historical resonance of the building adds a layer to any performance you see there. Check what is on when you are visiting; the Market is worth arranging your schedule around. It is in the Newtown precinct — go by Uber and combine with other Newtown stops.