Empatheatre: Staging the Fight to Save South Africa's Coast

Empatheatre creates research-based, immersive theatre with coastal communities on South Africa's east coast, most notably its production 'Lalela uLwandle' (Listen to the Sea), built from collaborative research into apartheid-era coastal removals, industrial fishing and mining conflicts. A 2019 tour of six small KwaZulu-Natal towns plus Durban generated newspaper coverage reaching over 451,000 people and radio broadcasts reaching a further 171,000 listeners, sparking public dialogues on ocean policy after performances. The work grew out of the UKRI-funded One Ocean Hub research partnership and helped seed a 'Coastal Justice Knowledge Action Network' linking civil society, scientists, lawyers and coastal residents.