Zabalaza Festival Hits NDENDILE, EGOLI and UHAMBO LOMHAMBI for the Cape Town Fringe

The Baxter Theatre Centre will showcase three productions from 24 September to 3 October at this year's Cape Town Fringe. All three productions were performed to great success at the Baxter's Zabalaza Theatre Festival which was held in March.

NDENDILE runs from 24 to 26 September at 5.30pm in the City Hall 2 and is performed in isiXhosa and some English. Written by Bongani Pontsana and directed by Sinoxolo Cezula, the dynamic cast of seven actors is made up of Bongani Pontsana, Sinoxolo Celuza, Inga Duda, Sibongiseni Bhekemva, Anelisa Patuleni and Anelisa Xapha. Cezula received the Outright-Faisit award for performance excellence while Inga Duda received the award for Best Supporting Actor at the Zabalaza Theatre Festival. The tender play is about a man who goes to Cape Town in search of new opportunities, leaving behind his father and wife. In the big city, he falls in love with Bongile, an interesting and attractive man, and they get married. After three years in Cape Town, he unexpectedly returns home to discover that his wife has left him and he now has the pressing need to ask for his father's blessings and allow him to marry Bongile in the traditional way. The play carries an age restriction of 16.

EGOLI, written and directed by Bongani Titana, is on in City Hall 3 and runs on 30 September and 1 October at 7.30pm and on 2 October at 1pm. Performed in isiXhosa, it most recently received a two-week run at the Baxter as it was the best-seller of the Zabalaza festival. The musical theatre production is performed by an ensemble cast of nine young actors comprising Zikhona Jacobs, Anelisa Pato, Michelle Zizipho Fani, Asisipho Ntsabo, Ayanda Dakuse, Thanduxolo Madolo, Lindelwa Similo, Vusumzi Bushula and Yvonne Msebenzi. It won the best musical director award, most outstanding artist of the festival award (Zikhona Jacobs) and the Outright-Faisit award for performance excellence (Ayanda Dakuse). With music composed by Titana, this story is vibrantly brought to the stage through song. Madlamini is a strict, God-loving woman from a rural village who travels to Egoli, the city of gold, in search of her husband. He left their home for the big city in order to find a job and make some money for his family. However, his plans were derailed when he got sucked into the fast and dangerous life of the big city and now she is on a journey to find him.

UHAMBO LOMHAMBI is written and directed by Themba Baleni and stars Azuza Radu (who was recently seen in the hit production BORN IN THE RSA at the National Arts Festival and the Baxter) and the live musician is Lee Sithole. This dynamic one-hander will be performed in City Hall 3 on 29 and 30 September at 5.30pm and at 1pm on 3 October. The powerful storyuses physical theatre, film projections and photography to tell the tale of a woman who leaves a war-ravaged country in search of peace and a place to call home. However, as she embarks on her journey, her greatest battle is with her two young sons who are demanding to know who and where their fathers are. Parental guidance is advised for children under 13 years old.

Tickets for the shows cost R50, with a block booking price of R45 for groups of 10 or more. Booking for any of the three shows can be made online at the Cape Town Fringe website, through the call centre on 086 000 2004 or 060 882 8316 and any cash or card bookings can be made through the Fringe Box Office which will be open at the City Hall from 21 September.

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