Veteran theatre producer / director Maurice Podbrey together with stalwart Durban theatre personality Bheki Mkhwane launches an exciting new KZN Theatre Company called Just in Time Productions which is committed to the development and presentation of indigenous theatre.
To prove the mettle of the fledgling organisation they present a series of three extraordinary new productions in the form of Sitting Around The Fire; A Plague of Heroes and uThembalethu – Tshepang. Sitting Around The Fire is written and directed by Bheki Mkhwane and features Sduduzo Kawula, Bhekani Shabalala, Bheki Khabela, Bheki Mkhwane. It tells the story of four streetwise kids who have had their lives profoundly changed – perhaps even saved – by a chance meeting with the old man Mablavana. The work received a Standard Bank Ovation Award at last year’s Grahamstown Festival.
A Plague of Heroes is a semi-autobiographical piece written by Vusi Mazibuko, directed by Maurice Podbrey and featuring Thami Mbongo. Set in the Greyville horseracing tote call-centre surrounded by the races on the big screen where the many voices and accents of Durban life call in their bets, protagonist Vusi grows rapidly into the gangster elite before an intoxicating lifestyle is suddenly cut short and Vusi, now a paraplegic, has to find his way in an uncaring and lonely world.
uThembalethu – Tshepang is written by Lara Foot; translated by Bheki Mkhwane and directed by Maurice Podbrey and features Bheki Mkhwane and Silindile Ndlovu. Tshepang toured extensively abroad and throughout South Africa in English, parts of the country in Afrikaans, and now arrives in Durban in 100% isiZulu.
The question that runs through a true story – one that occurred in the Northern Cape seven years ago and shook the conscience not only of this country but the world was – ‘When a community is brutalized by years of neglect and poverty how does it protect its own children?”
Playhouse Loft until April 24. The final show of Sitting Around The Fire takes place on Friday April 15 at noon. Shows of A Plague Of Heroes take place on Friday April 15 at 7.30pm; Saturday April 16 at 7.30pm; Sunday April 17 at 3pm and at noon on April 20, 21 and 22. Shows of Tshepang take place on April 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 at 7.30pm and on April 24 at 3pm. Booking is through Computicket. Tel: 031 369 9540