Celestial bodies

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Celestial bodies

At Joburg Theatre for Celestial bodies, a collaboration between Joburg Ballet and Universe on Stage. I was so excited for this.

The execution was stunning, better than in my imagination. I saw the Universe on Stage lecture earlier in the year, it was such an experience! Dr. Luca Pontiggia and Yasheen Modi simplified science, it lost its fear factor, it wasn’t intimidating. With the help of animation, immersive sound and curated narration, they told the story of the big bang, black holes, stars and existence itself. I really loved that lecture, I learned so much.

The Universe on Stage team is back again, this time with Joburg Ballet. The auditorium pitch black, huge screen at the back, the stage empty and Yasheen, the pianist is on the side. Dr. Luca Pontiggia comes in and out the stage.

Impossible to describe the beauty of the ballet dancers. They feel, they show vulnerability. So much poise, technique and beauty. Perfect bodies without a blemish. Stretching, 180 degrees splits in the air, skipping and spinning on their toes. So much elegance, discipline and strength and yet there is a stillness and serenity in the artform. It evokes awe and wonder, you get goosebumps, you gasp – so beautiful.

The costumes by Mari Robinson and Mario Gaglione are so gorgeous!

Lighting design by Simon King set the mood, engulfed by darkness. So minimal, effective and powerful. It concentrated all your energy and focus to the stage.

Darius Botha is the unsung hero with the awesome visuals and animation.

Yasheen Modi just might be the greatest Pianist of all time.

Dr. Luca Pontiggia is brilliant as the narrator. We learned about the big bang, stars and the beauty of the universe.

Thank you so much Di.

Congratulations Mario Gaglione and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

Death List Five

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Death List Five

I am not going to apologize for looking out for myself, I am all I’ve got. Ain’t nobody praying for me, ain’t nobody got my best interests at heart. If you strike, I strike, an eye for an eye, that’s the way of the warrior, ain’t nobody gonna do me dirty. If you ganging up make sure it sticks, a coma will only give me time to recover. Pull the plug on the machines. Atrophied muscles will get some activity and come back to life, then it’s death list five time, I am coming for your life. Don’t start wars you can’t finish, cyanide won’t save you from my wrath, I will leave no stone unturned, I will scour the earth for you and I will get my satisfaction. Death list five, if you are on the offense, make sure you get the job done if not I return with a counterattacking maneuver that will take you out, no apologies, no second chances, you’re dead. Coming for everything you love and value too, wipe off your wife and your kids too. Death list five, you’re fucking with the wrong guy, I can be psychopathic too. Revenge flows through my veins. I am petty, spiteful, I hold grudges, I never forgive nor forget and I am coming for your soul. Cause why care for somebody who won’t give you a second look. Why spare somebody who won’t get you off the hook? Why help somebody whose ambition is to get you shook? Death list five, I am death in the flesh, will break your spirit in dash, get you fired and leave you with no cash. Death list five, leave me alone, you don’t want to cross this line, it will get you crucified. I am a cannibal like the King Cobra, I eat my own kind. I will end you. I am not going to apologize for looking out for myself, I am all I’ve got, I will strike. Death list five, I choose violence, let’s beef, let’s fight.

Beauty in the broken

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Beauty in the broken

On the square for the opening of “Beauty in the broken”. Theatre royalty, I love Theatre on the square.

The show chronicles Gaynor Youngs story, she tells the story. Once an actress, she fell 18 stories down an unguarded lift shaft backstage during a show at the State Theatre in Pretoria. The accident left her with extremely serious injuries: brain damage, many broken bones (including both arms, both legs, ribs, facial fractures). She was in a coma for five weeks, followed by months in hospital and a long rehabilitation process. Hearing was lost; she was totally deaf for 18 years. She also lost a large portion of her eyesight and was physically impaired from the accident. Over time, with a combination of therapies (physical, occupational, speech, etc.) and strong support from family, she regained many abilities. She credits her mother for helping her get back.

Kintsugi: an ancient Japanese practice that mounts and joins broken pieces with gold is central to the play. The idea that you can be better than before. Renewal: To love yourself with impunity. Gaynor was once broken, her dreams in the dust and she rebuilt herself, broken bones and all she fought back to get her dreams!

She’s back on the stage, doing what she loves, filling up theatres, inspiring everyone. The human spirit is so resilient. Life is a gift and we take it for granted sometimes. Stories like these remind us of how fragile life really is. How nothing is ever certain. How you have to fight for everything you have because life is always fleeting. You cannot be a victim, get up, show some strife – no one really cares.

A great touch that she was invited back to the State Theatre after many years for a Naledi Award – her speech so powerful. She talks about the woman she is now as opposed to what ifs. There’s love and gratitude for life in her tone. What a remarkable woman!

She tells her story with personality, humor, emotion and a lot of heart. She has an angel on the other side of the stage who helps her. She is engaging and captivating. The set is simple, I can only assume that it’s her living-room, with a stacked book shelf at the back, table and chair on either side and a blue resting chair in the middle. It is warm and intimate. The lighting just right, it moves the story. In the last scene Gaynor’s dog comes onto the stage and she embraces it with love and affection. A truly moving show.

Thank you Daphne Kuhn and Theatre on the square for bringing this to the stage.

Congratulations Maralin Vanrenen and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

📷: Phillip Kuhn and SamSays

Born to perform

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Born to perform

At the Teatro for “Born to perform”, big day, a time perform, to shine. Youthful energy, vibrant, anticipating to get this done, they love it, they want to dazzle and entertain. Stageworxs alumni, everywhere in the world, successful, thriving, living out their dreams. Jessica Driver among the alumni, served in ABBA and the Taylor Swift Eras in theatres all around the world to much acclaim. Today she was handing out the baton to the next generation, so symbolic, powerful. Zinah Rose and Graeme Watkins were outstanding as hosts. A lot of comedic moments. Like when Graeme came on to the stage with no pants. Zinah had them. The show had everything, everybody performed their hearts out, even the kids. Well practiced and delivered with precision, love and dedication. Fourways High, ST. Vincent for the deaf and NSA are the schools participating, Beauty and the Beast featured, Naledi Award winner Neo Kele performed and Mia Nupen was mezmarrizing, she sang and did ballet, standing on her toes, so majestic, so beautiful. Yahto Kraft is so incredible! He stunned Riky Rick and Lira on popular music show “The Voice”, the judges didn’t know what to say, they were pressing buttons followed by a standing ovation by everyone in the auditorium. That is still his content, he played the Evil ring master and Jesus in the same year. This time he sang Meatloaf classics, that’s always great. The crowd was appreciative. Simphiwe Ndhlovu was a lot of fun. There was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy and a lot of people involved in the production. I met Matthew Marinus.

Congratulations Stageworxs and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

📷: SamSays

Pain

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Pain

Pain, pain, pain is in my heart. Trying to put myself together but it just rips me apart. Voices in my head telling me to push the button, cause life ain’t worth it I’d rather be chopped mutton. Every day is a struggle to get out of bed, what’s the use? Life happens without me, it frizzles into obscurity and I am left to watch on the sides observing like security. I am a spectator watching on the stands while life rules me like some kind of dictator. I don’t know who I am and lately I can’t stand what the mirror says I am. Alcohol as a form of escapism numbs the pain, it transports me to a world where everything is sane, supplement that with some white lines and the world just feels insane. Rather that than to be with people who are vain. Abiding to some false narrative to hid the shame. This life is like a sick game and every day is the same. I’d rather be boozed and snorted out on powder, the high is more exhilarating than fame. Pain, pain, pain, it fountains my existence. Often times I wish my life was in the past tense, because I don’t want to do this anymore. My life doesn’t make sense anymore, my friends and family are not with me anymore. I can’t take this anymore, living in a Godless universe with each passing day feeling like a curse. I don’t see the colors in the world and can’t appreciate a poetry verse. I feel like a motherless child, a bastard, an orphan, like nobody wants me. Zoned out on narcotics and meaningless sex. Gambling problems extort me more than tax. Pain, pain, pain, fighting a losing battle with myself. The blows are self-inflicted, I love it like a sadist because it makes me feel. I have a void in my heart that’s hard to fill.

AIDA

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AIDA

At Ster-Kinekor Theatres, Rosebank Nouveau to watch the premier of Verdi’s Aida on the big screen. A production by Cape Town Opera performed at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. I can claim having gone to Cape Town, such was the experience. The visuals in HD and the sound crisp, it was like being in the Artscape auditorium. I kid you not 15 minutes before the show, one of my poems titled “Cape Town” got a like. Cape Town is calling my name again, I don’t believe in coincidences, it’s synchronicities, I read Jung.

A grand production this is. It is spectacular! Egyptian mythology, Isis, vibrant costumes, colorful and bursting with imagination. 4 acts, huge stage. The Opera is sung in Italian, English subtitles for continuity and following with the story. The set evokes the feeling of Egypt with a big triangle hovering in the air against a backdrop of a gold wall that has imagery of the eye of horus. A chorus of 56 singers and dancers who are simply perfect. The singing is phenomenal, we were clapping along with the audience on the screen. A masterclass on technique and finesse, high notes are a given but it’s also about the texture and feel. Opera is emotive and expressive. US based conductor Kamal Khan leads the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.

Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is a tragic love story involving: Aida, an Ethiopian princess enslaved in Egypt. Radamès, an Egyptian military commander who is in love with Aida. Amneris, the Egyptian king’s daughter, who is also in love with Radamès. The plot revolves around love, loyalty, betrayal, and the conflict between personal desire and duty to one’s country. It ends tragically, as Radamès and Aida are entombed alive for their forbidden love. Yes, buried alive for love.

Gregory Maqoma provides the choreography. A must see for Opera lovers. This production is simply irresistible.

Congratulations Cape Town Opera and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

Master Manipulator

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Master Manipulator

If you can’t detect a master manipulator you are in a deep pit. Cause the boss is the one who screams out to the whole world that he’s in charge, right? Please. Let’s fight, let’s beef, cause I ain’t gonna take your bullshit, master manipulator, trying to direct my reality like you’re Speilberg. What is this Jurassic Park? You ain’t get the part, not even an extra nor a minor, your efforts to dictate this picture are infantile like a minor, throwing tantrums and causing scenes cause deep down you’re just a minor. Maybe you need a little reminder, on who’s running this show. Lines blurred out cause they were written on the snow? Playing the victim and the emotional blackmail, what am I slow? Guilt tripping and love bombing to enhance the flow. Come on, that’s a no. I see you even when you Ghosting like Casper, I am a Ghost Buster. Gaslighting won’t give you lustre, you could never be my master, cause you a copy-head, copying and pasting your projections on anyone you don’t want to get ahead. Master manipulator, controlling all the cards, using fake moralization to control the nation, then separate your target, that’s called isolation. Master manipulator, let’s beef, let’s fight, I can’t stand your mere sight. Your mannerisms offend me and your chunks are hard to bite. I’d like to spit on your face for mere spite. You’re a liar, you lack empathy and nothing you do is ever right. Master manipulator, serial gaslighter, puppet master like Gepetto, triangulating the situation so you can remain on top, going over the limit and never having the decency to stop, please cut off the strings so I can be a real boy like Pinocchio.

Dr. Strangelove

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Dr. Strangelove

At Ster-Kinekor Theatres in Rosebank Nouveau to watch “Dr. Strangelove”, live theatre straight from the UK, on the big screen. I’ve got my popcorn and Creme Soda, a Production by National Theatre.

A fantastic show, laughing out loud all the way through. Amazing performers, great script. Steve Coogan plays four characters, I’ve never seen anything like that before, like an illusion, like you watching TV, but it’s not, it’s live theatre, on the big screen. He is amazing in all four roles, so sharp witted, edgy, dark and humorous. My favorite character was Dr. Strangelove, the wheelchair-bound, ex-Nazi scientist with an uncontrollable arm. His arm was so inappropriate and he explained himself far too many times. Humor is so mischievous.

A Stanley Kubrick classic, co-adapted by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley. It is a dark satire about the Cold War and the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The story begins when a mentally unstable U.S. Air Force general unilaterally launches a nuclear attack on the USSR. As the U.S. government scrambles to prevent global annihilation, absurdity and bureaucracy collide in spectacular fashion. Peace on earth prevails.

Steven Coogan plays four characters – Dr. Strangelove, Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and Major TJ Kong

Giles Terera is General Turgidson
John Hopkins is General Ripper
Oliver Alvin Wilson is Jeffson

Set and Costume Designer – Hildegard Bechtler

2 hours 10 minutes with 15 minutes interval

Congratulations Sean Foley and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

📷: Manuel Harlan

Dancing the death drill

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Dancing the death drill

At the Joburg Theatre for the opening of “Dancing the death drill”, packed house, energy palpable, euphoric. So much excitement, there were even soldiers in uniform. My all time favorite performer stars in it, Sharon Spiegel-Wagner. A truly beautiful woman. She speaks French in this one, I rest my case.

What a wonderful theatrical production. I was ecstatic to see Thuli Thabethe, she used to star in a sitcom I used to love “City Sesla”. She played Phumzile, I used to have the biggest crush on Phumi. She plays Matshidiso in this one, the mother of the lead, Pitso Motaung. Her biggest contribution to her son is “don’t be a desserter like your father”. Pitso is a mixed breed, his father is white and his mother black but he identifies as a black Sesotho man. The play is in English but contains dialogue in Sesotho for realism. Clint Brink is a revelation, he speaks Sesotho so well. He plays a character who is accused of a double murder, he is in chains and he is interrogated.

The play has three narrators and they take turns telling the story. They use language that is descriptive and evokes imagery. The monologues are passionate and full of life and personality.  iComplete are the band and they are simply irresistible throughout, the singing and backup is amazing. The violinist, Nakedi “Ace” Phenyo is mezmarrizing, he is in the background for most of the show and is not seen but heard. Towards the end, he comes on in the middle of the stage with the other performers while playing his violin, everyone has eyes on him, he is spellbinding, he had the audience standing up and applauding. However, It was the Luthando Arts Academy who stole the show. They dance with cohesion, chemistry and conviction. In sync, perfect choreography, they make full use of the huge Joburg Theatre stage to perfection, they are outstanding!

The play is based on the sinking of the SS Mendi in 1917, a British troopship carrying over 800 South African men. The ship sank in the English Channel after a collision, resulting in the deaths of over 600 men, many of them Black South Africans. Writer Fred Khumalo reimagines this tragedy through the eyes of Pitso Motaung, a fictional character who rises from a humble background in South Africa to become a soldier. The story is adapted for the stage by Palesa Mazamisa and James Ngcobo. The set is the SS Mendi, we are on a boat and Charlie Bougenon’s character Portsmouth is the captain. I cracked up when he instructed one of his men to lick off his spit on the ground and he did, talk about running a tight ship.

This is a wonderful production with a lot of enthusiasm. The lighting is awesome and the acting, singing, dancing and overall storytelling is just world-class.

Congratulations James Ngcobo and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

📷: SamSays

Cape Town

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Cape Town

Cape Town is calling my name again,
I don’t believe in coincidences,
it’s synchronicities,
I read Jung.

Everything is deliberate,
nothing happens by chance,
the Universe speaks in codes.
So I am listening.

Cape Town is calling my name again,
it’s personal,
it knows my first name,
it wants to know if I am game.

Started off as whispers,
I didn’t think much of it,
but then started taking my best friends,
first Stumza,
then Phimza,
all in the same month.

Cape Town is in my head again,
it happened for the first time,
then a second time,
the third time is an omen.

The Universe has a secret language,
you just have to learn to decode it.

Cape Town is calling my name again,
angel numbers are everywhere,
things are progressing beautifully,
my energy is connected to the pulse that moves life,
life is good.

Cape Town is calling my name again,
wants to know if I am ready for the shift,
to reply quick and make it swift.

Sure Cape Town,
I am game.

I don’t believe in coincidences,
it’s synchronicities,
I read Jung.

antakalipa – Cape Town