Human nature

Death List Five

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

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

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

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

Pain

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

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.

Master Manipulator

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

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.

I choose antakalipa

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

I choose antakalipa

I know aligning and associating with me is difficult. I represent everything repressed and unconscious. I am vulgar, explicit and at times offensive. My words have a lot of salt and can cut deep. It’s my sense of humor, it’s all wrong and I put bad guys on a pedestal. I understand why the industry recoils, I understand why anybody would  recoil. I challenge and dare you to look! I represent humanity’s darkside and repressions. Let’s be real, if I had a prominent seat I’d probably get cancelled. Oh yes, I am the cancelled type. Regardless, it’s my perspective and these are the stories I want to tell. I don’t want to be cool, I don’t want to be anyone’s role model, I just want to be. For me being the consciousness of culture entails telling stories in my own voice even if it makes people uncomfortable, angry or otherwise. So I am at a crossroads, try to appease the industry and hope they will accept me despite the fact that I am a long shot or carry on being the controversial, undesirable “antakalipa”. I really like “antakalipa”. I am going to choose “antakalipa” – consciously. It’s okay, the industry can turn their backs on me, I understand. Maybe I won’t be rich, maybe I won’t collaborate with industry greats, maybe I won’t get the resources, maybe I will be shunned, maybe I won’t amount to much, but I will tell my stories, I will share my perspective. I choose me and my controversial take. I choose antakalipa. I am already a long shot, I am already an underdog, I came this far, I have to carry on, I bet on myself despite everything, even if it prolongs the journey, even if I don’t succeed, I choose antakalipa. Love me or leave me alone, I am not changing for anybody. Don’t do me any favors, you can leave if you want to. I choose antakalipa.

Superstar 🌟

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

Superstar 🌟

A million views but you had to get naked in front of a camera.
Prostitution,
the world’s oldest profession.

How much for your soul?

Attention in the 21st century is the hottest commodity.
Eyeballs validate and give you an evaluation.

A million views – WOW!
You are a superstar!

Prostitution,
still the world’s oldest and most lucrative profession.
Now everybody is doing it.

Breakfast with Mugabe

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

Breakfast with Mugabe

At the Market Theatre for the opening of “Breakfast with Mugabe, Standard Bank had an influence, drinks, soup, bread and general snacks on the house. Posed for pictures with distinguished people, met the director Calvin Ratladi.

Written by Fraser Grace, ‘Breakfast with Mugabe’ stars Themba Ndaba portraying Mugabe and Gontse Ntshegang as his wife, Grace. Craig Jackson plays Mugabe’s psychiatrist, Dr Peric, while Zimbabwean actor Farai Chigudu takes on the role of Mugabe’s bodyguard. The play is about Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s fictional imagining of conversations with white psychiatrist Dr Peric. Initially, Mugabe is avoidant, he misses appointments and comes late. They go deep delving into Mugabe’s psyche, the struggle is unearthed, bombings comes to the surface and love of country is elevated. The characters speak in Shona for realism, the play is in English. Exploitation happens, the white farmer loses his farm. The play explores grief, healing, faith, nationalism and legacy.

The set is in Zimbabwe’s head of state, coat of arms on the wall and a portrait of a painting on the other side of the wall. Elevated slightly by a stage in the middle is a trio of chairs and a table for juice. On the ground is soil, it features at the start and the end of the play. Themba Ndaba is brilliant as Robert Mugabe, he embodies his mannerisms, the restless energy, panting, speech and demeanor. I loved Gontse Ntshegang, she is so beautiful and amazing, she stole the show as Grace. She is after your farm white man. Craig Jackson as Dr Peric is a psychiatrist whose about learn what it means to be a white farmer in Zimbabwe, he learns the hard way, he loses. Farai Chigudu as the bodyguard beats up the white psychiatrist.

Thought-provoking piece of theatre that delves into the intricacies of human nature. I know I missed so much, it’s not something you watch once. You need multiple viewings to scratch the surface. It can completely go over your head, it needs meditation and contemplation. This is undoubtedly a masterpiece.

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

📷: SamSays

Master Harold… and the boys

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

Master Harold… and the boys

On the square for the opening of “Master Harold… ” and the Boys. Filled to the brim, no space. Celebrities, celebrities, swimming all around, it’s a serious day for theatre, three performers at the top of their game delivering a Athol Fugard classic, RIP.

The story started off light with a comedic tone, with Willie and Sam conversing about the upcoming ballroom competition. Willie has high hopes of winning but he doesn’t have a partner. He beats his beloved Hilda, too much and too hard. Sam comes off as an expert. He teaches Willie a couple of moves. Hally, a white 17 year old, comes in and the atmosphere and relationship dynamic changes. Willie positions himself in the background, cleaning, keeping things moving. He calls Hally master. Hally even admonishes him and beats him with his ruler. Sam is more liberated, they talk about Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Charles Darwin, Kites, and Dostoevsky. They seem familiar, they are in sync, there’s an understanding and then everything switches. Racism, hate, apartheid, I am better than you Kaffer, spilling this bottle of alcohol on the floor because I can, clean it up! Also you gonna have to start calling me master Harold, Kaffer. All bridges get burned when Hally does the unthinkable and spits on Sam’s face. Everything shatters, there’s no going back, what’s done is done. The play takes place in a small tea shop on a rainy afternoon. You hear the raindrops and we have the added sensation of seeing the rain. The rain sets the mood, it’s depressing, they do their best to amuse themselves, they are trapped in one room, Hally’s father is a cripple and his mother currently at the hospital, the mask peels off.

Sello Maake ka-Ncube plays Sam, a waiter at the coffee shop.

Daniel Anderson is “Hally”, oh sorry, master Harold.

Lebohang Motaung is “Willie”, the other waiter/cleaner.

Set designer by Wilhelm Disbergen, an awesome set that evoked the 1950s.

This is such a powerful show. Hats off to Daphne Kuhn and Theatre on the square for yet another banger! It starts off nice and slow and then it hits you with a vice grip. You can’t go anymore, you are trapped, there is nowhere to go. It’s triggering. An outstanding performance from the performers who told the story masterfully. Daniel Anderson shocked me to my core today.

Congratulations to Warona Seane and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

Peacock

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

Peacock

I’ve never been attracted to you my whole life. I am flattered, but not in this life. You need to stop masquerading as my wife. Move along and find someone who will take you as a wife. You deterring the ladies who have a chance, so slanderous your stories and they starting to spread rife. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but you ain’t my type. Maybe the blade is in too deep but it’s only because it’s a knife. You don’t get this enough but I’ve never been attracted to you my whole life. I am a popular guy and I have some options, you’re the kid in the corner who never gets adopted. You’re a special kid but this ain’t a contest. You just don’t fit the requirements to take the test. What can I say? Okay fine, I’ll hear you out, give you the chance to work your magic, run the catwalk, the expedition don’t need to be tragic. But at the end of the day I have to be honest, I’ve never been attracted to you my whole life. You’re a good kid, pretty smile, find you a good guy who won’t mind walking the extra mile. I am looking the other way, it’s a bye. I’ve never been the guy to sustain a lie. You’re too mellow and yellow, can’t reach my level so a collaboration is a hello no! Good presentation, a wonderful try but I have to be honest, I’ve never been attracted to you my whole life. I walk naked in the gyms locker room to intimidate other guys with my massive cock, not just another Peacock. One night with me would surely rock, but you a nerd and I am a jock. Move over for the ladies who actually have a chance, I’ve never been attracted to you my whole life.

Graveland

/ antakalipa / Leave a comment

Graveland

At the Market Theatre to watch “Graveland”. Social commentary, reflecting life back at us. Heartfeltingly moving, poignant, tragic. A story of love, hate, injustices, grudges that never get mended, characters who are bitter and unjustlyingly so. Two stories, two perspectives, you can emphatize with both scenarios, unhealed trauma, life goes on.

A story of a foreign national who one day gets a promotion at work. The natives are jealous, angry and offended. They won’t take orders from “ikwerekwere”. The disrespect is evident, so the foreign manager gets the natives axed from work and hires a brother. Chaos ensures, they stone his brother to death and made him watch, he begged, he pleaded, he was at their mercy, the damned South Africans didn’t care, they wrapped a tyre around his torso and set it alight. He burned to ashes. The broken man returned home with his dead brother for ashes, contained in a cup that looks like a flusk, it’s not even a proper urn. The family are heartbroken, they plan an excursion to get back their lost ones soul in South Africa.

In South Africa, Mahikeng, they encounter a disagreeable, xenophobic cop who arrests them. He demands R8000 for ‘tjo tjo” bribe money, R2000 per person. The foreign nationals can’t do anything, worse is that one of them left a pregnant wife at home. The Cops hate comes from his experiences as an officer of the law. He is pro South African, that’s who he regards, he calls foreign nationals cocroaches. Hillbrow Central, his sister was killed by a foreign national. She was used, she was abused and she died. His brother, the cop, couldn’t do anything, investigations with dead-ends. He hates foreign nationals, very stereotypical, the jobs, women, drugs, we suffering too, stay in your own country, solve your own problems, we suffering too. Towards the conclusion, he shoots a man wanting to go home to his wife and kid. Another African child will grow up without a father.

Graveland poster

The show stars
Allen Cebekulu, Diane Maseko, Abongile Maurice, Dineo Sello, Thabiso Rammala, Confidence “Mamzo” Lokhele, Thokozani “zits” Maseko, Sinenhlanhla Mbeyi & Lunga Khuhlane.

Produced by: Relebohile Mabunda
Written & Directed by: Thembeni Joni & Lunga Khuhlane
Movement by: Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi
Production Designer: Sinenhlanhla Q. Zwane
Percussionist: Mongezi Yamba

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