THREE'S A CROWD Opens Next Month at Guga S'Thebe Arts and Culture Centre

The Siyasanga Cape Town Theatre Company, which has over the past two years been working with new South African playwrights to develop new plays, will be producing two of these plays this year.

The first is THREE'S A CROWD. This is the second play from playwright Pfarelo Nekamonde whose first play, CHOMI, was produced with great success when Roy Sargeant, Artistic Director for Siyasanga, was running the Artscape New Writing Programme.

Fatima Dike, the production director of Siyasanga, will direct this new play. She says:

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.

The recently revamped Guga S'Thebe Arts & Culture Centre in the Langa Township, 15-20km from the Cape Town city centre, is housed in a brightly coloured building and is dedicated to the empowerment of the people of Langa and improving their socio-economic situation. The centre is equipped with an amphitheatre, conference room, meeting rooms, exhibition areas, art studios, a resource centre, an Internet café and also a Cape Town Tourism Visitor Centre. Decorated with polychromatic ceramic murals, this is one of the most impressive buildings in the townships - even more so now it has a new theatre, creatively constructed largely from recycled materials. In one of several studio spaces here, one can watch pottery being made and then buy samples from the centre's shop. Performances by local groups are often staged in the outdoor amphitheatre.

A cast of four young actors, Ntokozo Majozi, Yanga Mkonto, Inga Sikweyiya and Nicholate Nongoshe, will bring THREE'S A CROWD to life. Designs for the production are by Paul Regenass.

The artistic director of Siyasanga, Roy Sargeant, comments:

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. 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 ten 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 previews at Guga S'Thebe on 5 April (when tickets are two-for-the-price-of-one), opens on 6 April and runs until 13 April. Tickets, costing R60.00, can be bought at the door. Performances begin at 19:30, with two matinees at 16:00 on 8 and 13 April. Block bookings may be made via email.

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