Cape Town's premier independent theatre, The Fugard, announced on Tuesday it will be closing permanently. It's the latest blow to a cultural sector being hollowed out by Covid-19, without much light on the horizon.

"Another icon has fallen to Covid-19," tweeted South African actor John Kani on Wednesday.

Kani was referring to the permanent closure of Cape Town's Fugard Theatre, as announced on Tuesday by its founder Eric Abraham in a statement on the theatre's website.

"We are not persuaded that it will be Covid safe or financially viable to reopen as a theatre in the foreseeable future," Abraham wrote.

"The theatre will be handed back to the owner of the freehold of the building - the board of The District 6 Museum - as a working theatre and we hope that they will be able to use it for the benefit of the museum and the District 6 community."

For a decade, the Fugard was at the heart of Cape Town's theatrical life, drawing sizable audiences through savvy rostering that saw the theatre give platforms to local playwrights as well...