Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A New Nexus Of Creativity In Long Street, CT

So last night me and a friend decided to walk around Long Street, to try experience and perceive Long Street from the eyes of a tourist of a first timer in Cape Town, it turned out to be a very informative and inspiring walk. We visited one of the buildings I’ve written about in the past, turns out is a new theatre. The Space Theatre, which was established in 1972, has been revived as the New Space Theatre at 44 Long Street. The New Space Theatre on Cape Town’s vibrant Long Street will function as a mini-precinct, intended to be a hive of activity from 9am until late, offering a wide variety of cultural activities and facilities as well as eateries, related retail outlets, information and booking services. The theatre itself will be state-of-the-art and air-conditioned, and accommodate an audience of 200.We met two of the young blokes that manage the theatre, I forgot their names, blank stare – and we spoke to them for a fair bit and their passion of theatre was inspiring even though they actually come from backgrounds most removed from the arts, Finance & Accounting. Their aim is to create a nexus of creativity and culture, where like-minded people can come together at any hour. The Space Theatre Project is being developed as a modern theatre complex. Its floors are occupied by restaurants, bars, a tea shop, bookshops and visual arts galleries, I’ll report more on the restaurants once I try then, one of them is by Bruce of The Showroom restaurant fame, (which has recently closed its doors). What irretrievably won me over was the expansive roof, soon to be decked with a bar for an ideal summer sundowners spot. Office space will be tenanted to “theatre friendly” enterprises such as casting agencies. Above is a pic of the theatre and below is the pic I took of the building way before I even knew what it was, purely cuz I was taken by its beauty and after finding out last night, turns out I was correct with my guess on the architectural origins of the building. Check pas post: Design: Cape Town Victorian Architecture or Not.


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