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Fahiem Stellenboom
Television star, Shannon Esra, tackles the award-winning one-woman play, My Left Breast, at the Baxter Masambe from 10 to 24 October 2024
The internationally acclaimed one-woman play, My Left Breast, starring Shannon Esra, the award-winning television, film and stage actress (Lioness, Still Breathing, Do Your Worst, The River, The Queen, and Isidingo) will be running at the Baxter Masambe theatre from 10 to 24 October 2024 at 7pm with Saturday matinees at 3pm.
This season at The Baxter follows three highly successful runs at Theatre on the Square, The Mkwanazi Theatre at Kingsmead College and RedFest (Redhill Arts Festival) in Johannesburg.
Directed by Janet Baylis, with lighting and sound by Barry Strydom, My Left Breast, written by Obie Award-winning author, Susan Miller, is a beautiful, funny, and poignant story of a gay mother who is dealing with a recent heartbreak and her recovery from breast cancer. This powerful piece is about love, healing, womanhood, motherhood and transformation. The show’s ruthless honesty mixes with gentle humor. At the same time, Shannon Esra brings pathos and wit to her performance, taking the audience on a journey into the soul, allowing them to identify with the pain, suffering, redemption and rebirth of the character she plays.
Shannon graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dramatic Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand and found herself debuting in her first professional theatre production in Dorothy Ann Gould’s 2004 theatre production Japes, which earned her the Naledi Award for Best Performance by a Newcomer/Breakthrough (Female), as well as a Fleur du Cup nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She starred alongside an all-star cast in MNET’s Still Breathing and in 2021, she made unprecedented South African television history with her character Sandra Stein, who has crossed over between five local hit telenovellas, The Queen, The River, The Throne, Gomora and MNET’s Legacy. Shannon headlined MNET’s hit show Lioness. Her portrayal of Samantha Hugo (Lioness) earned her a SAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a TV Drama. In March of 2023, Shannon starred in the hilarious and off-beat dramedy romance alongside Kate Liquorish, Wayne van Rooyen and Rea Rangaka on Netflix “Do your worst”. Other notable TV credits include Isidingo; Snitch; Hard Copy, The Lab, The Triangle; Number Ten; Salaam-E-Ishq; BBC 2’s The Game Changers and working with Lawrence Fishburne, in the BET Biopic, Madiba.
The last time Shannon was on stage was in How I learned to Drive when she was living and working in Los Angeles. In My Left Breast, a truly beautiful and poignant piece, it seems Shannon has come full circle - having performed an excerpt from it in her first year of drama school for a performance programme in 2000. She now performs the full show under the direction of her first high school Drama teacher and mentor, Janet Baylis.
My Left Breast runs at the Baxter Masambe Theatre from 10 to 24 October 2024 at 7pm with Saturday matinees at 3pm and booking is through Webtickets online or at Pick n pay stores. There is an age restriction of 16 years.