Soweto Theatre is proud to present Woza Albert! by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon, at the Red Theatre from February 22nd to March 11th 2018.
Woza Albert! remains one of the most vibrant examples of satirical anti-apartheid South African Theatre productions. It demonstrates innovation and creativity during a seminal period of theatre in the country.
Woza Albert! is still a relevant story today and serves as a school set-work in the South African GDE school curriculum. The theatre piece is a great tool in assisting schools with ease of reference, and provides learners with a visual understanding of the book.
The play portrays so much truth and clarifies a simple approach to the human condition, thereby making it relevant to South Africans.
In the play, Bheki Mkhwane and Hamilton Dhlamini, who play the roles of various black South Africans - a vendor, barber, domestic worker, manual labourer and soldier - receive news that Christ (Morena) has arrived in South Africa, where a Calvinist white elite has imposed apartheid.
The play is a political satire that imagines the second coming of Christ in South Africa during the apartheid era. The play looks at a wide range of South African characters at the beginning of the 1980s, and addresses issues such as the pass laws that prevented Blacks from moving freely around the country at the time.
Bheki Mkhwane is best known to television viewers for his starring role as Samson, the head of the Ndlovu clan who is aligned with his hot-headed brother, Mandla, in the Mzansi Magic telenovela-turned-soap-opera isiBaya.
Hamilton Dhalmini is best known for his television roles as businessman Korea in the SABC1 sitcom Mzee wa Two Six (2005) and as Prosper in the SABC1 drama series Mzansi.
He also had a starring role as bumbling private investigator TT in the Mzansi Magic comedy series Boomba and TT, in 2012. In 2015 he had a starring role as Mnqobi Simelane, a self-made man in his 40s who was in a polygamous marriage with two wives and a possible third, in the e.tv drama series Umlilo.
The parts played by Bheki and Hamilton show off their skills in acting, mime, singing and dance. The talent they show in the production is testimony that the City of Joburg has what it takes to offer entertainment and enjoyment to its diverse people. The Red Theatre at The Soweto Theatre is also the best choice as Soweto has been credited for being one of the townships that were instrumental in bringing to the fore the plight of blacks under apartheid.
The fact that this play will be shown in Soweto Theatres will ensure that the people of Soweto do not have to travel far to see the play. It will also attract other people who do not reside in Soweto to visit the Theatre and all its surrounds.
Shows of this calibre are a great crowd puller, and as the Regional head of Soweto, I encourage all the playwrights to use facilities near where most of the previously forgotten communities stay to stage their plays.
Woza Albert! will run at the Soweto Theatre (Red Theatre) from February 22nd to March 11th 2018. Performance times are as follows:
• Thursday, 22 February 2018 at 11:00;
• Friday, 23 February 2018 at 11:00;
• Tuesday, 27 February 2018 at 11:00;
• Wednesday, 28 February 2018 at 11:00;
• Thursday, 01 March 2018 at 11:00
• Friday, 02 March 2018 at 11:00;
• Sunday, 04 March 2018 at 15:00;
• Tuesday, 06 March 2018 at 11:00;
• Wednesday, 07 March 2018 at 11:00;
• Thursday, 08 March 2018 at 11:00;
• Friday, 09 March 2018 at 11:00; and
• Sunday, 11 March 2018 at 15:00.
Tickets are from R70.00, and are available by visiting www.sowetotheatre.com or calling 0861 670 670, as well as through Webtickets. For group bookings of 10 or more, please contact the theatre directly on 011 930 7461/2/3. Special pension discounts are available.
Issued by:
Cllr Nonhlanhla Sifumba
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development
For media enquiries please contact:
Ronewa Mathobo on 011 069 3535 and 071 675 4492 or ronewa@creativer.co.za, or Promise Tshuluba on 011 069 3535 and 078 355 6589 or promise@creativer.co.za