Director says actor, Bongani, is fabulous
The show will play in Curro HCA’s Media Hall in Hillcrest on Saturday, 27 August at 9.45 am.
SWEETIE Darling comes to town as one of the shows on the line up for the Festival on the Hills.
The one-man stage comedy by award-winning playwright-director, Clinton Marius, aims to show you how women and men relate in a funny and quirky way.
The play stars actor, Bongani Mbatha, who Marius said inspired the production. “I saw him in one of the one-man shows I went to see and thought to myself ‘he is fabulous’,” he said.
The production will show at Curro HCA’s Media Hall in Hillcrest on Saturday, 27 August at 9.45 am.
Sweetie Darling is a romantic comedy about a young man who goes all out to prove himself. While he sets up a picnic in the park for his sweetheart, he recounts the ups and downs of his journey to happiness. As he finds himself, and love, he also finds his path to spiritual growth.
“When a man is upset with a woman, women tend to say, ‘don’t be upset sweetie’, and that is the last thing a man wants to hear when he is upset,” said Marius.
The director said the comedy show was also inspired by the culture of church choirs and how choirs are a part of most South African’s upbringing.
The show, apart from being funny, deals with women and men issues and how they relate to each other and understanding the opposite sex.
Marius feels he is in tune about what women like and dislike as he was brought up by a woman and grew up with two strong sisters.
The production won the coveted Suliman Family Trust award for the best production on the Durban’s Musho! Festival this year, as well as a judges’ award.
The production went on to score a hit at the Hexagon Theatre’s Mini Festival in Pietermaritzburg in February, and played on the 2016 National Arts Festival Fringe in Grahamstown, and the University of the Witwatersrand’s 969 Festival in Johannesburg, prior to its Durban season at The Playhouse Loft Theatre in July.
Mbatha made his professional debut in 2000, performing in The Playhouse Company’s New Stages production, Nomalizo by Bonginkosi Shangase. “Bongani is very talented, you can find talent anywhere but Bongani has the hunger and respects his craft,” said Marius.
Booking for the performance of Sweetie Darling on the Festival of the Hills is through Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com.
