Theatre Works
By Koleka Putuma
No Easter Sunday For Queers
NO EASTER SUNDAY FOR QUEERS follows the hate crime murderlove story of Napo and Mimi. The lovers, through the spirit, subconscious,Easter Sunday sermon, return on the anniversary of their wedding death crucifixion to make the church pastor perpetrator Father reconcile reckon with the present and the past and a sacrifice crucifixion he must account for. The alter is a cross and the subconscious a court room where the dead seek justice for a an act sin committed by their perpetrators. The antagonist protagonists cannot any more tell the past from the present and scripture from the truth. Every year, through the visitations on Easter Sunday the pastor and his church is made to remember.
The play was first developed in 2017 under the CASA Award, (a collaboration between the Playwrights Guild of Canada Women’s Caucus and the African Women Playwrights Network), under the mentorship of Canadian playwright Diane Flacks and Johannesburg based, Zambian theatre maker and scholar, Mwenya Kabwe. The play was further developed as part of the Imbewu Trust playwrighting award in 2018. It won the 2019 Distell
Playwrighting Award and made its debut at the Market Theatre in August 2019. An excerpt of No Easter Sunday For Queers, directed by British Nigerian theatre maker, Femi Elufowoju Jr. was staged at the Roundhouse in London as part of the Global Black Voices; excerpts of plays by black writers from around the globe in August 2019. The play also exists in publication (2020).
Woza Sarafina!
Inspired by both Wole Sonyika’s From Zia, with Love and of the iconic film Sarafina! Woza Sarafina follows the events of a democratic South Africa in the year 2020. The play is told from the perspective of a group of fallists. It takes place inside a prison cell after a group of students have been arrested for bombing colonial statues erected in the company gardens, cape town city centre. The students thread the history, present and future of South Africa through a series of narratives/scenes that give the audience insight into both what is happening outside of the prison and what the students predict the future of South Africa might be...
Created with City Varsity Graduating students.
Mbuzeni
MBUZENI tells the story of four little girl orphans, their sisterhood, and their fixation with burials. The story takes place in a tiny village, the only cemetery that exists in the village separates the villagers from the orphans. Here, there rules and regulations for burials which are monitored and constantly reinforced; rules which the villagers have observed that the girls have and continue to break when they play burials at the gravesite. Their defiance comes at a price and one they are made to pay.
Mbuzeni first premiered at the Artscape Theatre in 2016, and went on to tour internationally to, Cologne, Stuttgart and Edinburgh in 2017.
Created by Directed by Koleka Putuma
Devised by the Cast
Ekhaya
Ekhaya a production for under 10’s created by The Magnet Early Years Theatre Company is an expression of the relationship of children towards home. It delves into their understanding of being ‘’at home’’, in various contexts, and explores their associated feelings using age appropriate language, song, and clear imagery. This production has toured throughout Cape Town and the Cederberg municipalities in 2015 and opened Testoni Ragazzi Festival at La Baracca in Bologna in February 2017. It showed at the CRADLE OF CREATIVITY international Festival as part of the ASSITEJ Wolrd Congress in 2018.
Directed by Koleka Putuma, under the mentorship of Jennie Reznek.
Scoop
SCOOP is the first ever South African baby play for mothers and babies between the ages of 2 weeks to 12 months. This play is performed in a self-contained tent, a relaxing space, and fits 6 moms and babies at a time. With the use of sounds, songs, lights and textures, babies are taken on an enchanting journey crafted to delight, surprise and soothe. Through intensive interaction with the babies, the four performers reveal innovative ways to connect and communicate with infants. The performance is 20 minutes long with 15 minutes play time after.
Directed by Koleka Putuma, under the mentorship of Jennie Reznek.
