Some of the talented artists that performed at the opening of the theatre included Voodoo Child, Khethi Ntshangase, Skin2Skin and Jacqui Moloi with the Moloi.Hesse.Blues Band. In keeping with the theme, the guests were served divine African cuisine from Moyo's and got to sample exotic cocktails from the new bar.
The City of Joburg, who funded the Basement, decided that the theatre would be a valuable asset to improve infrastructure in the cosmopolitan Westrand region as well as to give both emerging and professional artists an arena to showcase their talent. The construction and design of the Basement was within budget as most of the impressive work was done in-house by the Promusica team.
The beautiful mosaic styled theatre seats 70 - 80 people and is suited to intimate performances. The African theme promotes an outstanding theatre venue in a world class African city. The Basement will cater for, among others, jazz, drama, cabaret, one-man-shows and poetry. The flexible design of the auditorium caters for various seating configurations from auditorium to conference to caberet style. However, given numerous enquiries, it seems that the informal setting that allows patrons to sit around a table and enjoy drinks from the excellent cocktail bar whilst watching the show on stage is the most popular!
Loran Robertson, the very creative Technical Planner at Joburg Promusica dedicated twelve grueling months to putting together the building and design. The most intensive and intricate work lasted three months, whereby all the finishing touches were finally put together.
Like any large building construction a few obstacles such as not receiving certifications in time, suppliers not having building material and design problems were incurred. Loran was very lucky to have an incredible support structure to overcome all these obstacles smoothly. The entire building involved a lot of multitasking and the crew were very efficient in making sure that every last piece of detail was perfect.
The unique mosaic designed tables were hand made in a team building exercise by the staff who were encouraged and inspired to make them as creative as possible. All the rest of the mosaic designs were done by Loran and hand made by her and her team who stayed at the theatre way past normal hours to make sure that the end result would be spectacular.
Situated on the same premises as Joburg Promusica Theatre, the Basement affords all artists the opportunity to stage their shows.
This venue can also be used to host your company function or cocktail party, but booking is essential.
Should you want to host a function, hire the theatre or find out what is happening, please contact the theatre on 011 674 1357 or visit the website www.promusica.co.za.
