How Now Brown Cow announces 2026 Winter season
How Now Brown Cow celebrates its sixth incredible year with the announcement of its 2026 Winter season. The award-winning company presents two new productions of compelling stories, performed in Cape Town and Johannesburg, directed by two of South Africa’s leading theatre directors – Constellations and Prima Facie.
Constellations
Nick Payne’s Constellations runs at The Baxter Studio in Cape Town from 2 to 20 June before heading to Johannesburg for a run at Theatre On The Square from 23 June to 11 July.
Directed by industry luminary and renowned choreographer Jay Pather (The Firebird; Bridling; Hold Still; Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre), Constellations is a spellbinding exploration of love, choices quantum theory, and infinite possibility for heartbreak or for hope. Through a kaleidoscope of moments between two people, it asks what might happen if every version of our lives existed at once – and whether love can endure across them all.
The stellar cast features Mark Elderkin (Amadeus; Speelgoed van Glas/The Glass Menagerie; A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Mwenya Kabwe (Hold Still; Yellowman; mAnJE! MaNje (an epic)).
Marianne, a physicist, and Roland, a beekeeper, meet at a barbeque. They hit it off, and go for a drink. Or perhaps they don’t. They go home together, or maybe they go their separate ways. Perhaps Marianne is engaged to someone else, perhaps Roland is. Maybe she breaks his heart, maybe he breaks hers. Perhaps they come together and their love story can finally take root and grow, or perhaps it will be tragically cut short.
Constellations contemplates how even the smallest change in our lives can dramatically alter the course we take.
Director Jay Pather says:
“We have all experienced an ‘if only’ moment. What if I had done something differently, said something else? Would it have worked out better?”
“Constellations is a remarkable play that evokes this human frailty through compelling text, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart wrenching that builds steadily with the inevitability of ancient ritual and Greek drama.”
Prima Facie
How Now Brown Cow presents the South African premiere of Suzie Miller’s award-winning Prima Facie directed by celebrated theatre maker Neil Coppen (Isidlamlilo/TheFire Eater; Animal Farm; Tin Bucket Drum).
Danica De La Rey Jones (Hunting Jessica Brok; Unseen; For Colored Girls) performs the role of Tessa, a brilliant young barrister, who climbs her way up from working class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross examining and winning.
Tessa believes in the legal system until a brutal attack turns her world upside down as she navigates the same system she once championed. Now put on trial herself, re-traumatized through her cross-examination, she finds herself questioning everything she believed about justice.
Prima Facie is a hard-hitting look at the “patriarchal power of the law” where the burden of proof and existing rules of evidence often work against victims of sexual violence.
The 2022 London production of the show was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, with wins for Best New Play and Best Actress for Jodie Comer, who subsequently won a Tony Award for the same role on Broadway in New York.
Neil Coppen, director of Prima Facie, says:
“I’m honoured to be directing the South African premiere of this production, the themes of which matter deeply to me and all of us as South Africans who live with some of the highest and most horrific gender-based violence statistics in the world.”
“Suzie Miller’s play has had performances across the globe, and over the last few years has been translated into multiple languages. This will be the first time it’s been performed in South Africa, and I couldn’t imagine a more urgent and pertinent context to be presenting the play within.”
“Beyond merely presenting a gripping staging of Prima Facie on South African stages, I’m excited by the opportunity this creates to use the production strategically to deepen the discussion around its concerns and themes with our audiences.”
Show Information:
Constellations
Cape Town:
Baxter Studio – Baxter Theatre Centre
Dates:
2 – 20 June 2026
Tuesday – Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 3pm & 8pm
Ticket Prices:
R250 (including VAT)
Bookings:
Bookings available via Webtickets
Johannesburg:
Theatre On The Square, Sandton
Dates & Times:
23 June to 11 July 2026
Tuesdays to Fridays at 20h00;
Saturday at 15h00 & 20h00
Ticket Prices:
From R180 – R220 (including VAT)
Bookings:
Bookings available via Webtickets or the Theatre Box Office (011) 883 8606
Age Restriction:
14+ years
Show Information:
Prima Facie
Cape Town:
Baxter Studio – Baxter Theatre Centre
Dates:
4 – 29 August 2026
Tuesday – Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 3pm & 8pm
Ticket Prices:
R250 (including VAT)
Bookings:
Bookings available via Webtickets
Johannesburg:
Market Theatre
Dates & Times:
17 September to 4 October 2026
Ticket Prices:
From TBC (including VAT)
Bookings:
Bookings available soon via Webtickets
Age Restriction:
14+ years
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About How Now Brown Cow:
How Now Brown Cow was launched in 2020 during a global pandemic. The company, founded by Actor and Writer Julie-Anne McDowell, was established to offer world class South African and international works for local and international audiences and stages. Daniel Galloway, who was The Fugard Theatre’s Managing Director and Lead Producer from 2009 to 2020, is the General Manager and co-Producer alongside Julie-Anne. During the global theatre shutdown of 2020 and 2021, How Now Brown Cow launched the How Now Brown Cow Writer’s Collective which saw the commissioning of 12 new South African scripts several of which are now in the next phase of development. In 2022 the Production Company released their first short film, The Hive, which was screened to critical acclaim on the international and local film festival circuit. The Beauty Queen of Leenane was How Now Brown Cow’s first stage production in South Africa which was presented in Johannesburg in October 2022 and Cape Town’s The Baxter Theatre in August 2023. The production won five Naledi Theatre Awards, including Best Production of a Play. How Now Brown Cow will be staging 3 new productions in the coming 16 months.
