PRESS: Qondiswa James’ edgy new play about bedroom dynamics in Cape Town

Christine Skinner

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AMAXELEGU, the latest play by award-winning actor, writer, director and, theatre-maker, Qondiswa James, comes to Cape Town this March.

Photo Supplied.

Presented in association with The Market Theatre, AMAXELEGU is an edgy new play about love in the time of non-monogamy.

Written and directed by Qondiswa James, with Greg Homann, the Artistic Director of The Market Theatre, as Dramaturge.

Amaxelegu (roughly translated as Messy People), is a provocatively risqué yet relatable and beautiful story exploring the bedroom dynamics of a young couple and their interactions with the woman who ‘cleans up after them’.

It is a journey into the complexity of present-day relationships, set in the bedrooms of the characters Thabisa and Azola, in Cape Town. The pair navigate the day-to-day transactions of class, politics and gender as they move between various private and domestic contexts as young, upwardly mobile-middle-class black South Africans.

The story: Their romance begins on Bumble and is quickly charged by ideology, desire, and class difference. As they fall for one another through screens and marches, messages and misrecognition, their longing for “free love” collides with the structural inequalities that shape their lives. Hovering between them is Mama Priscilla, Azola’s mother and Thabisa’s domestic worker – the invisible bridge whose quiet labour sustains both their worlds. Her presence draws into view the inheritance of servitude and the unbroken line between care, work, and love in a country still haunted by its hierarchies.

“Amaxelegu is an exploration of how we navigate having multiple relationships, while remaining an ethical version of ourselves,” says writer, director and performer Qondiswa James.

“It maps the intimacy between the erotic and the political. At once tender and unflinching, Amaxelegu is a portrait of contemporary South African intimacy where politics seeps into the bed, where the personal is historical, and where even love cannot escape the architecture of inequality.”

Performed in English with some isiXhosa, AMAXELEGU will be presented for a strictly limited season at Magnet Theatre from 18 to 21 March 2026. There will be a performance at Azande Theatre in Khayelitsha on 22 March 2026.

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AMAXELEGU features an impressive cast which includes Qondiswa James as Thabisa, Luxolo Ndabeni as Azola and Peggy Mongoato in the role of Mama Priscilla.

This bold, fresh three-hander emerged out of the Market Theatre’s Play Development Programme which was launched in 2025. The initiative focuses on unearthing and developing fresh, urgent, or compelling stories under the guidance of Artistic Director, Greg Homann.

Completing AMAXELEGU’s formidable team is:

Assistant Director and Tour Manager: Ketsia Velaphi

AV designers: Abigail Meekel and Claire Meekel

Set and costume designer: Lungiswa Joe

Sound designer: Jannous Nkululeko Aukema

Lighting designer: David Themba Stewart

Movement Director: Ernest 'Ginger' Baleni

Intimacy Coordinator: Tshego Khutsoane

Acting Coach: Monageng ‘Vice’ Motshabi

Stage Manager: Roland du Preez

Book now to catch the short run of this sizzling new play directed and written by one of South Africa’s next wave of brilliant young theatre artists.

Age Advisory: 16 (SNL)

Language: English (with some isiXhosa)

Performances at Magnet Theatre are:

18, 19, 20 March at 19h00

21 March at 14h00

Tickets cost R180 / R150 for group booking

Bookings can be made at Webtickets

Magnet Theatre is situated at: Corner Lower Main & St Michael’s Roads in Observatory, Cape Town.

The performance at the Azande Theatre in Khayelitsha (Makhaza, 4 Sivivane Cres, T3-V5, Cape Town, 7784) on 22 March is at 18h00.

Tickets cost R80

Bookings can be made at Webtickets