The Siyasanga Cape Town Theatre Company, which has over the past two years been working with new South African playwrights to develop their plays, will be producing two of these plays this year.
The first new play is Three’s a Crowd, which will be staged from Wednesday April 5 to Thursday April 13 at Guga S’Thebe Arts and Culture Centre in Langa.
This is the second play from playwright Pfarelo Nekamonde whose first work, Chomi, was produced with success when Roy Sargeant, artistic director for Siyasanga, was running the Artscape New Writing Programme.
Three’s a Crowd will be directed by Fatima Dike, production director for Siyasanga, who will lead a cast of four young actors, Ntokozo Majozi, Yanga Mkonto, Inga Sikweyiya and Nicholate Nongoshe.
“It is yet another delightful comedy dealing with black gay issues from Pfarelo Nekamonde. Also, another first for our company is that we are staging it at Guga S’Thebe Arts and Culture Centre in Langa in the stunning new theatre there. Soweto has got its theatre, now Langa has its own. As a Langa resident, born and bred, this really thrills me,” says Dike.
Designs are by Paul Regenass.
“We are particularly grateful to our funders, the Percy Fox Foundation and the Mauerberger Foundation, for their support of this development initiative which has allowed us to develop eight playwrights and plays since 2015,” says Sargeant.
“Providing guidance and firm support for playwrights within an ongoing playwriting programme is important for South African theatre. Fatima Dike and I have been working together for over 10 years supplying editorial support and expertise to writers and giving playwriting workshops. The two new full productions for 2017 have been made possible with funding from the National Lotteries Commission.”
Three’s a Crowd will preview at Guga S’Thebe on Wednesday April 5 when you can buy two tickets for the price of one.
The show opens on Thursday April 6 and runs until Thursday April 13.
Tickets cost R60 and can be bought at the door. Performances begin at 7.30pm with two matinees at 4pm on Saturday April 8 and Thursday April 13. Block bookings may be made by emailing dike.fatima@gmail.com
Athlone News is giving away four pairs of tickets to Three’s a Crowd on Friday April 7, at 7.30pm. All you have to do to stand a chance to win is SMS ANCrowd with your name and contact details, including email address, to 33258 before midnight on Sunday April 2. SMSes cost R1.50 each.