Grab your voting paddles Joburg: The Market Theatre summons you for Jury duty

Joburg, you’ve been summoned for Jury duty!

The historic John Kani Theatre at Newtown’s Market Theatre complex is breaking the fourth wall in its latest production, as the Jury Experience heads to town later this year.

For the uninitiated, The Jury Experience is a legal drama lover's dream. The Joburg edition, dubbed Death by AI: Who Pays the Price? is an immersive courtroom drama that takes a looming ethical dilemma of the 21st century and drops it squarely in the audience's laps. Instead of sitting quietly in the dark, theatregoers are formally summoned for "jury duty" the moment they step into the auditorium.

The case

The case on trial feels uncomfortably close to a near-future reality: a fatal accident involving a driverless, autonomous vehicle. With a human life lost and zero legal roadmap or clear legal precedent to follow, the courtroom becomes an ethical storm.

The audience's job is to step directly into the jury box, dissect witness testimonies, analyse the digital evidence, and ultimately determine who pays the price when technology turns fatal.

This fast-paced, 65-minute production cuts out the standard theatrical distance and replaces it with live democracy. Armed with physical voting paddles and their own smartphones to scan interactive QR codes, the audience directly steers the legal trial's narrative trajectory.

Every testimony from the witness stand must be picked apart, and every legal argument weighed. Because the performance relies entirely on real-time crowd votes, no two shows are guaranteed to follow the exact same path, and the final verdict rests entirely with the room.

The Market Theatre has a long, storied history of staging vital, socially conscious art in Johannesburg. Taking on the legal frameworks of artificial intelligence feels like a natural next step for a venue that thrives on dissecting contemporary societal pressures.

What you need to know before you go

If you are planning to answer the jury summons, note that the show runs for a tight 65 minutes with strictly no late entry permitted, so arriving at least 30 minutes before showtime is highly recommended.

Due to the intense legal themes, parental discretion is advised, and the experience is limited to ages 12 and older; under-16s require an adult companion. Seating at the John Kani Theatre is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis within your ticketed zone.

Most importantly, make sure your mobile phone is fully charged before you arrive, as you will need it to scan codes and interact with the digital evidence throughout the trial. Tickets can be secured directly through the official experience page.

Essential details

• Where: The Market Theatre, 138 Lilian Ngoyi St, Newtown
• When: Saturday 1 August and Saturday 31 October
• Tickets: Available on Fever from R436