The Playhouse is Durban’s premier theatre complex. It has three performance spaces: the Drama Theatre, the Opera Theatre, and the Loft Theatre.

As an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, it receives public funding from government with a special mandate to promote arts education and development.

The theatre complex hosts drama, dance and music productions from established and emerging companies or artists. It also attracts international work.

There are three main festivals in the Playhouse’s annual calendar: The Community Arts Festival, which allows local arts practitioners and performers to stage their work in a professional environment, the New Stages Festival which presents new South African artistic voices, and the South African Women’s Arts Festival which celebrates and showcases women artists in fields ranging from dance, theatre and poetry to comedy and visual art.