THE festive season is over and we are now all back to serious business - and also into having fun and engaging our minds in activities that enrich the intellect.
THE festive season is over and we are now all back to serious business - and also into having fun and engaging our minds in activities that enrich the intellect.
Theatre audiences are no exception as they look forward to what theatre directors, writers, lighting designers, costumes designers, set designers, theatre producers and actors can come up with in the new year.
Of course our thespians were not lazing about, waiting for the new year to dawn before creating those works that will reflect our lives on the stage this year.
And their work should not be that difficult at all, because theatre is life, and life is theatre.
Just look around you and you will notice some of the things people do, say and how they say them, which is quite interesting from a theatrical point of view.
It is these everyday things that make for good popular theatre that people like.
One need not crack a stone to find the basis of good theatre. We ordinary people just want to see the things we hear, witness and engage in being put on the stage. We just want to see the lives we live being acted out, finish and klaar. And sometimes we want to laugh at ourselves.
These thoughts flooded me when I was reminiscing about the shows I had seen last year, the ones that attracted audiences. It was those plays that told people's ordinary stories that found favour with audiences. It is these productions that will also make an impact on audiences this year.
I am happy to report that the producers have rightly seen fit to bring some of those plays back this year.
Songs of Migration, a musical first performed at the State Theatre last year and has flugelhorn player Hugh Masekela, innovative and prolific director James Ngcobo, famed choreographer Gregory Maqoma.
Sibongile Khumalo and Lulu Mlangeni assume important singing and dancing roles, respectively, on theatre stages this year. Ezbie Moiloa is the musical director.
The story is simple and straightforward. After the discovery of minerals in Gauteng and other parts of South Africa during the late 19th century indigenous people started to migrate to the towns that had emerged from of mining operations.
These migrants brought with them their music, traditional costumes, musical instruments, songs, ceremonies and dances. The show is on at the Market Theatre from January 18.
Still at the same venue, Foreplay, which had a successful run at both the State Theatre and Market Theatre, is back on stage.
It is a mix of politics, sex, poetry and perversion, subjects that have proven popular with audiences.
This one will run from January 13.
One other show that must come back this year is Julian Seleke Mokoto's Money Maker.
This one depicts the life of prostitutes. It is good, light-hearted entertainment that also sheds light on why some people, driven by poverty, engage in this so-called oldest profession.
PEOPLE'S TALES
THE festive season is over and we are now all back to serious business - and also into having fun and engaging our minds in activities that enrich the intellect.
THE festive season is over and we are now all back to serious business - and also into having fun and engaging our minds in activities that enrich the intellect.
Theatre audiences are no exception as they look forward to what theatre directors, writers, lighting designers, costumes designers, set designers, theatre producers and actors can come up with in the new year.
Of course our thespians were not lazing about, waiting for the new year to dawn before creating those works that will reflect our lives on the stage this year.
And their work should not be that difficult at all, because theatre is life, and life is theatre.
Just look around you and you will notice some of the things people do, say and how they say them, which is quite interesting from a theatrical point of view.
It is these everyday things that make for good popular theatre that people like.
One need not crack a stone to find the basis of good theatre. We ordinary people just want to see the things we hear, witness and engage in being put on the stage. We just want to see the lives we live being acted out, finish and klaar. And sometimes we want to laugh at ourselves.
These thoughts flooded me when I was reminiscing about the shows I had seen last year, the ones that attracted audiences. It was those plays that told people's ordinary stories that found favour with audiences. It is these productions that will also make an impact on audiences this year.
I am happy to report that the producers have rightly seen fit to bring some of those plays back this year.
Songs of Migration, a musical first performed at the State Theatre last year and has flugelhorn player Hugh Masekela, innovative and prolific director James Ngcobo, famed choreographer Gregory Maqoma.
Sibongile Khumalo and Lulu Mlangeni assume important singing and dancing roles, respectively, on theatre stages this year. Ezbie Moiloa is the musical director.
The story is simple and straightforward. After the discovery of minerals in Gauteng and other parts of South Africa during the late 19th century indigenous people started to migrate to the towns that had emerged from of mining operations.
These migrants brought with them their music, traditional costumes, musical instruments, songs, ceremonies and dances. The show is on at the Market Theatre from January 18.
Still at the same venue, Foreplay, which had a successful run at both the State Theatre and Market Theatre, is back on stage.
It is a mix of politics, sex, poetry and perversion, subjects that have proven popular with audiences.
This one will run from January 13.
One other show that must come back this year is Julian Seleke Mokoto's Money Maker.
This one depicts the life of prostitutes. It is good, light-hearted entertainment that also sheds light on why some people, driven by poverty, engage in this so-called oldest profession.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos