First adapted in 2014 and set in a classroom, this production brings eight of the most famous short stories writers (that include South Africans) to life. Stories include The Dube Train, by Can Themba, Manhood, by John Wain and many more!
Short Stories Alive
First published in 1945, the production tells the timeless classic novel’s story; with a uniquely South African slant to ensure it has relevance and topicality for contemporary audiences.
Animal Farm has recently been selected as a nominee for the Naledi Awards Showcase organized by Assitej at the Soweto Theatre in October 2014.
First published in 2002, the play tells a complex South African story exploring subtle issues of family, siblings, rivalry, truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.
FISHY FLIPPERS is an interactive, spontaneous and playful storytelling show, about a boy who finds a penguin on his doorstep. The clowns invite the audience to explore the shores of their imagination as the boy and the penguin set off on an adventure in search of home, only to find it within each other. This is a story of an unusual and delightful friendship, told by two (very silly) clowns!
Brought to you by CREATIVE BEANS, this award-winning clown and storytelling show for children has been performed internationally since 2011. In 2013 Fishy Flippers won the Audience Favourite award at Musho! Festival and went on to enjoy great success during the ASSITEJ Family Season in the Western Cape. The show was created and performed by Nadia Woodward (clown & performer from South Africa) and Annabel Morgan (clown & storyteller from Swaziland), in collaboration with Clowns Without Borders South Africa.
Complexion is about a girl who grows up in the township facing different challenges at different stages of her life. We see the world through her eyes from the time she is born, we are introduced to the various people in her life who shape and mould the complexities of her complexion.
I developed this play with an interest in telling stories about the world I know and grew up in. Not only did I want to tell a story about a young black girl who grows up in a township, I also wanted to speak back to how the township is a mechanism that informs, consumes and cripples children. Using some of my own personal narratives, observations and investigations I created a 6 minute work which I performed for my 4th year performance exam. I was encouraged to extend and develop the performance text. In the process I have been intrigued by how social systems have been normalized and how these norms have a way of shaping and affecting humans. Do we have the agency to change ourselves and/or our context? TO BE OR NOT TO BE… has been the leading theme of this play; to survive or not to survive? To be oppressed or to not be oppressed? To be …
When an 8 year old girl loses her beloved half brother to a car accident and she is forbidden from attending his burial because of family rivals; that moment changes how the rest of her life unfolds. By sixteen she struggles to relate to her peers and people placed in her path because she is trapped in the past. She begins to communicate with her late brother through letters she writes to him in her diary and through trying to “tap into death”, she writes him stories of how her life has been without him and wonders whether things would be different if he was around. We see her at her happiest when she is in a realm between life and death. The society perceives her as suicidal and a danger to herself but she does not really want to die. In the midst of fighting for her life her biggest wish is that she could somehow run away from life while her brother runs away from death and they could meet each other halfway, to sit at the edge of the world and confide in one another. Everyone has come to a point in their lives where they have questioned whether they would be better off in the spirit realm or if they should fight for just one more day in the physical world – Running is about that very reality.
Growing up in rural area a young man known by his nick name “The Shoe Man” take us through a journey that may change the lives of South African youth today. He is forced to attend high school in a closest town, since he is waiting for the government to build one in his area. Passionate about completing his matric, he struggles to survive through depressions posed by children from his community and settling his fees at his multiracial school. (The play is dedicated to the late Andile “King, Jesus” Mdletshe)
Hans is baie ongelukkig, want sy broers het elkeen ‘n groot erfporsie by hul pa gekry, en hy het vir Kiets gekry. ‘n Kat. Wat doen mens met ‘n kat? Of eerder, wat kan ‘n kat vir jou beteken as jy honger en werkloos is? Maar Kiets laat hom nie onderkry deur Hans se negatiwiteit nie, Hy maak ‘n plan, of drie!
Emperor Loxly’s court is in turmoil, because his designer quit the day before his birthday, and left His Highness without a new show-stopper outfit. That is, however not the only problem. The much bigger issue is Wonty, the unenthusiastic court jester, who stole the emperor’s prized watch, and is planning to take over the kingdom. The emperor’s loyal servant, Wilma, tries to maintain the status quo: keeping Loxly happy and Wonty quiet, but then Wonty is banned, Loxly almost loses his mind, and a stranger makes his appearance. Can the smooth talking, never-heard-of designer called Wontier, save the day?
In the workshop, learners evaluate all the characters in the play, and decide who displayed good leadership skills. They also apply it to their own environment and lives.