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Love tale to enchant viewers

Edward Tsumele

Edward Tsumele

The kind of tragedy found in many of the works of William Shakespeare is being performed on SABC1.

And by the look of things, they are doing very well in terms of compelling the audience to sit down and watch.

A literary classic turned into a South African tragic love story based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, upcoming SABC1 television series uGugu no Andile, takes love, romance and family strife to a local level.

The series focuses on Gugu and Andile, two young lovers desperate to deepen their love and escape the long-standing feud that has set their families against each other.

Set during the faction fighting that brought the East Rand township of Thokoza into the spotlight in 1993, the series contextualises an age-old love tale to reflect a modern-day African love story.

The cast comprises both new and established actors.

The lead roles welcome Litha Booi as Andile and Mlungile Dladla as Gugu.

Familiar faces in the cast include former Tsha-Tsha and Generations actor Zolisa Xaluva, as well as Luzuko Nkqeto, who played Cedric in Tsha-Tsha. Xaluva says the show has particular relevance, especially after the xenophobic violence that hit the country in the past few weeks.

"The setting of the show is the political violence that took place in Thokoza back then.

"The violence we saw recently is reminiscent of that. It's just that the people affected now are different. But it shows that since then we haven't grown as a nation,"says Xaluva.

The show will screen on SABC 1 tonight at 8.30pm.

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