By Surafel Ashebir | June 6, 2026
Inside the Challenges Facing Ethiopian Theatre
The stages of two of Addis Ababa’s most historic theatre houses now come alive only once a week, a stark reflection of the mounting pressures facing Ethiopian theatre as audiences dwindle, production costs climb and digital entertainment increasingly dominates leisure time.
The bright lights of the Ethiopian National Theatre still illuminate Churchill Avenue after dark. But inside the landmark venue, the atmosphere has shifted.
On a recent Thursday evening, the theatre compound stood unusually quiet ahead of a performance of Shemgay. Not long ago, productions like this routinely turned the area into one of the city’s busiest gathering places. Crowds filled the entrance gates, ticket queues stretched across the compound and staff hurried to manage the flow of patrons before the curtain rose.
This time, the bustle was absent.
Shortly before 11 p.m., only a handful of people approached the entrance. Theatre employees lingered near the gates as the spacious compound remained largely still.
By 11:30 p.m., ticket sales were underway, yet no line had formed outside the auditorium. Inside, the sense of quiet was even more pronounced.
As the performance began, audience members continued to arrive individually. Roughly 50 people were scattered throughout a hall built to accommodate nearly 1,200. Entire sections of seats remained empty beneath the dim glow of the theatre lights.
Behind the auditorium, staff moved quietly through darkened corridors while actors performed before rows of unoccupied seats — a scene that theatre professionals say has become increasingly common.
Once among Addis Ababa’s most vibrant weekend traditions, theatre is now confronting one of the most difficult periods in its modern history. Rising production costs, declining attendance, limited institutional support, urban transformation and rapidly changing entertainment habits are reshaping the sector.
The challenges are unfolding within an already small theatrical ecosystem. Ethiopia has only five permanently active institutional theatre houses: the Ethiopian National Theatre, Hager Fikir Theatre, Ras Theatre, Addis Ababa Cultural Center and the Children and Youth Theatre. All are located in the capital, and even among these institutions, programming has declined markedly.
According to the playwright Wedneh Kifle, Hager Fikir Theatre now opens only on Sundays, hosting two performances each week. The Addis Ababa Cultural Center, meanwhile, stages a single recurring production, Balch Aba Nefso, also on Sundays.
For theatre professionals, the reduced activity at some of the country’s most storied cultural institutions has become a visible indicator of the sector’s fragility.
The decline is particularly striking given theatre’s place in Ethiopia’s cultural history. Unlike much of Africa, where modern theatrical traditions emerged largely through colonial institutions, Ethiopian theatre evolved through a fusion of indigenous storytelling, Orthodox Christian performance traditions, poetry and communal rituals with Western dramatic forms.
For generations, theatre functioned as a public forum where questions of politics, morality, class and identity were explored through performance.
Today, however, practitioners say audiences are becoming harder to attract.
“As much as we can, we are providing theatre weekly for audiences without quitting, but the audience is not coming like before,” said Getenet Teka, an actor and head of the evaluation desk at the Ethiopian National Theatre.
Getenet said changes in the city itself have contributed to the decline in attendance.
“The city infrastructure has changed. Many people who used to live around this area have moved away,” he said.
He also pointed to the rising cost of promotion and what he described as diminishing media attention.
“The media are not promoting theatre enough,” he said. “Advertising prices are very expensive for theatre professionals.”
The financial strain on theatre companies has grown increasingly acute.
According to theatre professionals interviewed for this story, ticket prices at government-run theatres have risen from about 80 birr to nearly 200 birr in recent years as operating costs increased. Several practitioners also said mounting a single production in Addis Ababa can now cost more than 500,000 birr.
Veteran theatre professionals and researchers say major theatre houses once routinely attracted between 500 and 1,000 audience members per performance. Today, many productions draw only a fraction of those numbers.
For theatregoer Tefera Worku, the rising cost of attendance has become a deterrent.
“Previously I came repeatedly,” he said. “Nowadays not much because the ticket price is high and my residence is far. But I still love theatre.”
Others point to changes in audience expectations.
“The active theatre productions feel repetitive,” said Efrata Tsegaye, another attendee. “That becomes boring for me. There are many entertainment options now that bring new things every day. I prefer those instead of theatre.”
Within the theatre community, many practitioners view the rise of digital entertainment as one of the most significant forces reshaping audience behavior.
“It is the digital age,” Getenet said. “Audiences no longer have the patience to sit for a two-hour theatre performance.”
Dagmawi Amelework, a theatre director, argues that Ethiopian theatre has yet to fully develop into a sustainable industry. He cites weak audience engagement, institutional bureaucracy, limited innovation and slow adaptation to contemporary performance practices as persistent challenges.
“Social media and digital entertainment are reducing audience attention toward live theatre,” he said. Dagmawi believes stronger government support, institutional modernization and greater international exposure for theatre professionals could help revitalize the sector.
Finances remain a central concern.
State-owned theatres receive public funding primarily for administrative operations and staff salaries. Production expenses — including script development, directing, costumes, stage design and promotion — are largely expected to be covered through ticket sales, sponsorships or venue rentals.
According to theatre administrators, the Ethiopian National Theatre employs roughly 274 permanent staff members, including actors, dancers and musicians. Yet many theatre professionals say the sector’s economic model is under growing pressure.
“The profession does not give us enough money or recognition for living,” said Kaleb Walelegn, an actor and executive director of the National Theatre. “We are doing theatre mainly for our own satisfaction.”
Kaleb said financial constraints are also shaping artistic decisions. “The value of the art we perform is not connected to the income we receive,” he said. “Because of financial limitations, many productions depend on translated plays instead of original local scripts.”
For Wedneh, the survival of Ethiopian theatre increasingly depends on personal commitment rather than institutional support. “Nowadays theatre is carried by private producers because we love theatre,” he said.
Wedneh claims that bureaucratic procedures within some institutions continue to limit experimentation and creative development. “Writers have developed many ideas beyond ordinary social theatre, but some ideas are not allowed to be implemented,” he said.
Economic realities have become particularly difficult for performers and producers, he added. “In today’s living conditions, actors may receive only 500 to 1,000 birr per performance,” he said. “Sometimes writers and producers are not paid at all if productions fail to generate profit.”
At the same time, he noted, daily rental fees for theatre halls can exceed 11,000 birr at some venues.
“This does not encourage professionals,” he said.
The decline of touring productions has added another challenge.
Assefa Worku, an assistant professor and doctoral candidate in the Department of Theatre and Film Arts at Addis Ababa University, believes the decline of regional theatre culture has contributed to the profession’s broader struggles.
For decades, travelling theatre troupes brought performances to cities including Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Gondar and Dire Dawa, helping cultivate audiences and discover new talent beyond the capital. Today, theatre professionals say rising transportation costs, limited infrastructure and mounting financial pressures have made large-scale tours increasingly uncommon.
“In previous years, theatre performances regularly reached rural areas,” he said. “Many major theatre professionals emerged through these tours.”
For Assefa, the challenges facing Ethiopian theatre extend beyond finances. He argues that literary and academic foundations within the profession have weakened over time.
“The previous playwrights were highly committed readers,” he said. “That helped them create excellent scripts. Today many writers produce theatre without strong literary knowledge.”
He pointed to what he described as a weakening reading culture, limited access to specialized theatre literature, uneven technical development and shortcomings in scriptwriting as factors affecting the quality and competitiveness of Ethiopian productions.
“Audiences will always come for quality work,” he said.
Assefa argues that rebuilding the sector requires stronger arts education, higher professional standards and evaluation systems that reward quality and innovation.
For younger practitioners, the contrast between Ethiopia’s theatrical legacy and the realities of today’s industry can be particularly stark.
Eyob Negatu, a graduate of Addis Ababa University’s Theatre Arts program and a master’s student in Film Production, recalls the optimism that surrounded the celebration of Ethiopian theatre’s centenary during his university years.
“At that time there were many theatre festivals and the profession had gained recognition,” he said. After graduation, however, he encountered a far more difficult landscape.
“When I entered the actual work environment, I understood how difficult it is to survive through theatre,” he said.
Eyob said the absence of a strong culture of theatre criticism, weak links between academic training and professional practice, and concerns over creative restrictions have hindered the sector’s development.
“There is no strong bridge between theatre academies and the professional field,” he said.
Others describe similar challenges.
Meskerem Abera, a producer and actress, characterized theatre production as financially demanding and insufficiently supported. Amanuel Habtamu, also a producer and actor, emphasized the need for greater research, professionalism, collaboration and international engagement to strengthen production standards.
The rhythm of theatre itself has also changed.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, major theatre houses commonly staged four or five productions each week. Today, some venues schedule as many as eight weekly performances in an effort to attract audiences back to live theatre.
Yet practitioners say increasing the number of productions has not necessarily translated into stronger attendance or greater financial stability. Instead, tighter budgets have often constrained artistic ambitions.
Still, productions continue.
As Shemgay concluded at the Ethiopian National Theatre, audience members quietly filtered through the corridors while actors removed costumes backstage. Inside the cavernous auditorium, hundreds of empty seats faced the stage.
For several minutes after the audience departed, the lights remained on.
Then theatre workers closed the doors.
Outside, traffic continued to flow through Addis Ababa’s streets. Inside, performers prepared for the next production, sustaining a tradition that for generations stood at the center of Ethiopia’s cultural life, even as they confront uncertainty about its future.
Source: The Reporter
https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/51040/