Xoli, Bawdy, Sam and Karla are a group of grade 11 girls who attend the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG), Makhanda. The all girls’ school is a 187-year-old private boarding school that delivers an IEB curriculum. Their brother school is St Andrew’s College, a 232-year-old all boys’ school. Classes are shared by boys and girls from Grade 10-12. These two schools are separated by a giant green gate which is locked at 11pm in the evening and unlocked at 6am in the morning by tired security guards in navy blue uniform. While St Andrew’s is a gateless grounds spanning 5 blocks, DSG has recently built a wall around itself with electric fence to keep the outside out and the inside in. The girls roil and suffocate inside.
They are baby anarchists. New free–thinkers. And dreaming together into future liberatory possibility.
Xoli and Sam are in love or falling in love. Something muted and grounded and real. On Saturday afternoons they bunk out of school grounds with Bawdy and Karla to the often deserted train station in the centre of Makhanda to get high, shit-talk, dream, wonder if they will get to the other side of now. They are thinking into critical liberatory pedagogies into building nations that are not the stifled prison-house they feel they are in. They all feel, acutely, the discomfort of something itching – they know something is not right with the world.
There is friction in Xoli and Sam’s fragile relationship; Bawdy fuels the fire while dealing with preganancy and the decisions she must make. Karla’s mother as recently passed and she is moving through the aftermath. They talk about school and boys and race. They talk about disciplinary cases happening at both the boys and girls schools. Bawdy insists the politics will play themselves out. There is an altercation, an ideological impasse at which point one must act. It is the realisation of something euphoric, of power to destroy, of having the real potential to dismantle; and something horrific, no longer romantic, real and with real consequences. Suddenly there is the sound of the school guard and they run. In the panic and commotion as the nearby public rush towards the rising fire, the girls separate pursued on foot. At the normal meeting place, all but one girl return – Sam.
Sam is handed over to her school which immediately begins the process of questioning, gathering evidence and building a disciplinary case. Sam exposes Bawdy. Heads must roll. Sam’s parents remove her from the school before the date of her official tribunal. Xoli gets expelled. Bawdy gets expelled. Karla gets one-month suspension which she will spend at her father’s lake house in Plettenberg Bay.
Playright Aldo Brincat is that first-generation South African of Mauritian, Egyptian and Maltese heritage. Born in mid-60’s South Africa, Brincat, along with his family, find their maturing years playing out against the backdrop of a country in turmoil.
Aldo Brincat’s award winning hit, The Moon Looks Delicious From Here, is a 70 minute, largely autobiographical solo performance, which is driven by a loving father and son relationship – each from different eras and motherlands. Here, Brincat plays an array of characters in and around a fragile young nuclear family – some foreign, some local – all of whom are finding or losing themselves in the ever-changing political landscape that is South Africa. Language, religion, ambition, sexuality, and political leanings are brought into sharp focus as our two lead characters fight off ‘otherness’, while attempting to assert themselves into a volatile new country. Key moments in their lives are juxtaposed against powerful developments in South Africa’s history during the 70s and 80s and, as the effects of apartheid (and its homophobic policies) begin to reach boiling point, family ties threaten to tear apart.
The Moon Looks Delicious From Here is universal in its theme, particularly at this time when the intersectional knock-on effects of migrancy, sexuality, heritage and identity are brought increasingly into our consciousness.
Written and performed by the international multi award winning interdisciplinary artist, Aldo Brincat, and directed by Sjaka September, with music by the multi award winning international composer, performer and producer, Bongiziwe Mabandla.
In the beginning the first ever cursed was when God cursed Adam and Eve after the forbidden fruit saga, but now allow us to take you on the journey of the supernatural curse that was altered by the great one Nkwenhle and NQULABETHU when cursing this family from eNtathakusa “Hlase Family” with the “Delunga”, a spirit that feeds on female twins.
This supernatural power play will invoke the whole place, whole play, and characters CURSE. Two characters, break and take us through the family curse, a secret that builds up and takes down the family of Hlase twins. This play will be about two twins Cebisa (boy) and Nongcebo (girl), born and bred eNtathakusa.
It is all about the twins who did not know that they were related because when their young their parents separated after having a fight, they went or took different parts, separated some of the things and some of them were Cebisa and Nongcebo. The mother natured Nongcebo and the father groomed Cebisa when they were both eight months into the world.
They grew apart, lived different lives, and adopted different styles up until they met up when they were old and fell in love, They take us into this relationship phase they just started only to find out, that they started their family too, and have their twins without knowing that they are related.
This show will be narrated by our storytellers which is Nkwenhle and NQULABETHU who has so much knowledge and knows so much about THE CURSE. Things keep on getting worse and more cursed because they only realise that at the end they are related and they are cursed with the spirit of Delunga a spirit that feeds on female twins. We will be introduced to challenges and different ways to resolve challenges but the question is, will these challenges be solved since they were CURSED at the beginning?”
‘n Meertalige narrespel aangebied in Afrikaans en isiXhosa. Guppie bevind homself in André se kou. Die Republiek van die Kapok Boer Vereniging. Die RKBV het ontstaan na ‘n aardbeweing ‘n skeur getrek het rondom ‘n lappie aarde wat twaalf plase, ‘n kerk en ‘n foefieslide adventure park insluit. André oortuig die gemeenskap dat die mense van buite ‘anders’ is, en dat hulle moet bly op die eiland. Maar op ‘n dag maak ‘n nuwe maatjie, Nkululeko, kontak met Guppie. Die produksie sal die jongspan laat skaterlag, terwyl die produksie vrae vra wat die grootmense sal laat nadink oor ons huidige polêre samelewing.
“Dude! Wa’s My Phone?” is designed for high school students from Grade 10 to Grade 12 who are enrolled in Dramatic Arts. This age group is our main target audience, given the themes’ relatability, the cultural insights it offers, and its ability to captivate and educate a demographic highly connected to the challenges and opportunities associated with digital technology.
The play provides valuable insights and raises awareness about the consequences of smartphone addiction. Our interactive story creates an environment where young audiences are more receptive to messages encouraging a healthier balance between online and offline life.
“Dude! Wa’s My Phone?” utilizes humour, drama, and relatable situations to engage learners in a contemplative exploration of the role of technology in our lives. It delves into its impact on relationships, social consciousness, and the intricacies and absurdities that arise in the digital age. The production addresses the contemporary issue of smartphone addiction, examining the following themes:
- Addiction and Dependence on Technology
- Friendship and Connection
- The Intersection of Comedy and Tragedy
- Identity and Sense of Self
- Spark Dialogue and Reflection
Mphilo is a country teenager, who is born as a blessing in the eyes of the family because she has albinism. Her grandmother believes that she can cure the disease her older daughter has and that Mphilo’s body parts can make the family rich.
Mpilo and her mother, Nozizwe, journey to confront the myths that allow young girls to be exploited, harassed and abused by authority figures in our communities. United they can reach beyond the wall of society’s myths. Nozizwe meets up with other women from different backgrounds and through Mphilo’s journey, they are able to better articulate their own struggles.
Dlamini brings her strong directorial and aesthetic signature to the work, which does not employ the use of set, but rather uses the performers’ movement and bodies to give shape to the drama.
Jade Bowers (2016 Standard Bank Young Artist, Naledi Theatre Awards Best Director for Scorched) and Ameera Patel (Naledi Theatre Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Scorched) join forces to present ‘Black’. Based on CA Davids’ 2014 novel ‘The Blacks of Cape Town’, Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award-winning writer/director Penny Youngleson has written an adaptation for stage which intricately balances the poetry and pain of discovery, of unpacking history and the drama of family politics. Accomplished actress Patel tackles her first one-hander, under the directorial hand of Bowers, and with musical composition and accompaniment by Daniel Geddes.
While based abroad, historian Zara Black (Patel) learns via an officious but vague letter from the South African government, that documents once sealed and implicating her father in an act (which, while not clearly defined, was committed against the anti-apartheid movement decades earlier) will soon be released to the public. The resultant unearthing of her own past begins with Isaiah Black – the grandfather that ‘started it all’ when he stole a handful of diamonds from one of the world’s largest diamond mines in Kimberley. This act, however, is overshadowed by what the family considers his far greater crime – concealing his (mixed) race to escape the harsh realities of the mines before abandoning his mother and ultimately changing his name. His choice of surname is not without irony; because having been classified as mixed, he had passed as white, but had given rise to a line of coloured children and grandchildren. His granddaughter Zara finds herself alone and displaced in New Jersey, caught up in the excitement of an American election of a new and historic president, while trying to make sense of South Africa of the past and present: constructing a history for herself and her family from fragmented recollections and family lore.
WHAT THE WATER GAVE ME
By Rehane Abrahams
Directed by Jade Bowers
:: Cast ::
Cherae Halley
This powerful piece of authentically South African theatre is an elemental exploration, which digs up gestures and stories that have been buried in the darkness of Cape Town’s history. Flowing from lush stories of ancient majicks to gritty tales of urban terror, the play traces the stories of four characters, with a storyteller who weaves their worlds together. Through the resources of imagination, the characters are able to transfigure their existing realities. Awarded a SILVER Standard Bank OVATION at the National Arts Festival 2014 this production has been called “as beautiful as it is compelling” and “a performance worth seeing.”
:: JADE BOWERS is a theatre director, production, set, sound and lighting designer, and also Theatrical Rights Administrator for DALRO. Named one of AfriPOP’s Top Five Female Theatre Makers in South Africa, last year she was also nominated for a Naledi Theatre Award. For more info find Jade Bowers Design and Management on Facebook and follow @jadeherself.
:: CHERAE HALLEY
Cheraé Halley was born in the Eastern Cape, East London and moved to Johannesburg where she completed both honours and masters in Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. She completed three years of South African Sign Language studies as an extra course. Having studied Applied Theatre and Performance Studies, Cheraé has a burning desire to create theatre with both Deaf and hearing people with particular interest in HIV/AIDS and using drama as process to educate and dialogue on the matter. In 2010 Cheraé was awarded the Drama For Life scholarship through which she completed her award winning, practice lead research MA research.
In 2012, having a passion for the stage, Cheraé performed in the recently published controversial play The Merry Wives of Zuma written and directed by Pieter-Dirk Uys.Cheraé is a member of the DFL Playback Theatre company in South Africa, and has completed both core training and advanced training courses in Playback Theatre.
Cheraé currently is the project officer for the HIV/AIDS Deaf awareness project at GALAGALA (Gay and Lesbian memory in Action) which travels across Deaf schools in Johannesburg using educational theatre in addressing HIV/AIDS. She facilitates Applied Theatre workshops for the University of Johannesburg Art Centre and since 2013,Cheraé has been coordinating and lecturing the Applied Theatre Studies IIIA course, (now including IIIB) at Wits University under the Division of Drama For Life.
The piece will incorporate singing, dancing, acting and physical theatre. Its aim is to be edgy and very provocative in order to capture the pupil’s attention for the duration of the piece.
At the end of the piece the students will be given an opportunity to discuss some of the issues that they witnessed during the piece with a skilled facilitator.
Does anyone have any idea what the impact of the pandemic of HIV and AIDS is having on our children and their family life? How does one approach this sensitive subject? Did you know that a live theatre show like, Tand’ Impilo can open up a safe space to discuss the subject and this forum can save lives?