State Theatre Pretoria

The South African State Theatre in Pretoria, known until 1999 as the Pretoria State Theatre, is regarded as the largest theatre complex in Africa. Built on the city's old Market Square for the Performing Arts Council of Transvaal (PACT), it opened in 1981 with productions including N. P. van Wyk Louw's Germanicus, Jochem van Bruggen's Ampie and Arthur Miller's After the Fall; veteran actor Siegfried Mynhardt spoke the first words on the new stage. There were originally four venues: the Opera, Drama, Arena and Studio. With the addition of the Momentum and Rendezvous there are now six theatres; in total the complex seats around 2,700 and covers more than 72,000 square metres. After the province of Gauteng closed it in 2000 over financial mismanagement, it reopened in April 2001.