ICONIC ’24 HOURS IN THE CITY’ FESTIVAL MAKES A DYNAMIC COMEBACK IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT BURSARIES
SALM TEAM 
POPArt Theatre is delighted to announce the exciting return of 24 HOURS IN THE CITY, the adrenaline-fuelled theatre festival where creativity, chaos and collaboration collide! The festival will take place at the Market Theatre Laboratory and the finished works will be showcased in the Ramolao Makhene Theatre on 22 November 2025 at 7pm. This beloved POPArt tradition brings together artists and audiences in a celebration of theatre-making while raising funds for bursaries for students at the Market Theatre Laboratory.
24 HOURS IN THE CITY is an annual celebration of fast-paced, fringe theatre-making. Over just 24 hours, 6 writers, 6 directors and 24 actors come together to create 6 brand-new pieces of theatre. Writers receive their genres and prompts on the evening of the 21st, then write from 9pm until 5am the next morning. At 5:30am, directors select their scripts and dive straight into rehearsals with their casts, all in preparation for the 7pm showcase. Audience are invited to witness 6 brand new, 10-minute plays written, rehearsed and staged all in the span of 24 hours.
“It is madness and mayhem and a whole lot of fun for the audience in celebration and enjoyment of the spirit of independent theatre-making!” – Hayleigh Evans, co-founder of POPArtTheatre.
“24 HOURS is a highlight on the calendar. It’s always wonderful to see so many alumni participate and back on our stage in support of the current students.” – Cherae Halley, head of the Market Theatre Laboratory
Visit https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1581275469 to purchase tickets for the show on 22 November at 7pm. For more information and updates about the festival follow POPArt Theatre @popartjhb on Instagram and P.O.P. Art on Facebook.
POPArt Theatre is a performing arts centre which was founded in 2011 in the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg, with the intention to provide a space that would inspire and contribute infrastructure for the creation, development and showcasing of new live performance works. Since then, the company has showcased over 400 new productions and has built a solid reputation as theatre producers working on in-house productions, as well as co-producing tours for existing productions. POPArt received the Arts and Culture Trust ImpACT Award for Theatre in 2015 and the Naledi Awards Executive Director’s award in 2017. Today, POPArt has moved to a new location in Parkview and continues to collaborate with leading talent across the theatre space.
