PRESS: New season of Youth Company plays at Magnet Theatre

Jan 23, 2024

Magnet Theatre

Magnet Theatre is thrilled to announce a season of new plays created by the Magnet Theatre Youth Company: THE FOUR/ A SUMMER SEASON. These new works have been written, created and performed by the talented youth company, supported in 2024 by a Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) grant from the National Arts Council and will run in repertory at Magnet Theatre from the 13th to 24th February 2024.

These plays were first performed as short works in June 2023 and now the Magnet Theatre Youth Company are coming back even stronger with fully developed plays for a limited season! Mentored by the award winning Qondiswa James, 4 young directors have co-created with the cast, Ematyeni, Cracked Ground, IMPOXO, and UHAMBO (THE TRAVELLING), plays reflecting the thoughts, dreams and creative landscape of the 11 young company members grappling with what it means to be human in troubling times. This is new work with a twist! The plays will be performed in English and isiXhosa and with English subtitles.

The Magnet Theatre Youth Company is totally unique in South Africa, having started their Fulltime Training and Job Creation Program 6 weeks before lockdown in 2020 and continuing to create and learn throughout the hardships of the pandemic and graduating in 2022. Thanks to the FirstRand FirstJob internship programme, Magnet Theatre was able to offer a select 11 performers the opportunity to form the Magnet Theatre Youth Company in July 2022 and to perform professionally on various platforms. Since then, they have excelled in a range of performance styles, honing their craft through Greek theatre in Oedipus at Colonus #aftersophocles (for which they received 2 nominations for Best Ensemble and Best Newcomers at the Toyota Woordfees in 2023); ritual theatre in iKrele LeChiza…. the sermon, and environmental ‘artivism’ through the climate change production Surge. Recently, this company dazzled audiences and the ReTags company with a robust compilation of Oedipus at Colonus #aftersophocles, iKrele LeChiza… the sermon and Antigone (not quite/quiet) in Magnet Theatre.

THE FOUR/A SUMMER SEASON is a celebration of emerging young South African playwrights, theatre makers and performers with 4 new full-length plays: Ematyeni, Cracked Ground, IMPOXO, and UHAMBO (THE TRAVELLING). This promises to be an entertaining and thought-provoking season of stories from this dynamic new talent! Magnet Theatre is proud to develop new voices and ground-breaking talent.

Ematyeni, directed by Siphenathi Siqwayi, choreographed by Buhle T. Stefane and starring Mihlali Bele, Nosiphiwo Ndabeni & Wendy Mrali, is about 3 African women from very different cultures and backgrounds who accidently meet, but who share a dark secret that led them to this wild place, Ematyeni. This holy place is where they share their stories and try to find healing through ritual and transformation. (Multi-lingual with subtitles)

Cracked Ground, directed by Azola Mkabile, choreographed by Buhle T. Stefane and starring Lindokuhle Melaphi & Sipho Kalako, tells a story about when love becomes a usable tool in a game of deception. It follows the story of 38-year-old Ntombi, an investigative journalist who is on the track of Jerry Gcina, a Ward Councillor who is implicated in a money laundering scheme. The two begin a relationship, but their intentions may not be that straightforward! (English)

IMPOXO, directed by Molupi Lepeli, choreographed by Buhle T. Stefane, and starring Thabo Mkenene and Kuhle Myathaza, is a story about love, queerness, and the past. Secrets, broken trust, and disappointment are core themes of the story as the characters explore how the past of your true love can still haunt you in your current relationship and what happens when the truth inevitably comes out. Using half masks designed and made by the cast with Iman Isaacs. (isiXhosa with subtitles)

UHAMBO (THE TRAVELLING), created and performed by Buhle T. Stefane, is a dark psyche-thriller that takes you through a journey of a man’s uneasy childhood, and his struggles with mental health in his adulthood as a result. UHAMBO is layered with a fast-paced text and employs techniques from dance, object manipulation and intense body language to narrate the story. (English)

THE FOUR/A SUMMER SEASON will be performed from 13th – 24th February 2024 at Magnet Theatre: Cnr Lower Main & St Michael’s Roads in Observatory.

OPENING NIGHTS:

Tues 13 & Wed 14 Feb

Tuesday 13 Feb: