Ngema’s The Zulu heads for Durban

Funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) and scripted by Mbongeni Ngema himself, The Zulu is directed by Christopher John and designed by Sarah Roberts. The show is produced by Africa Ngema and presented by Committed Artists Foundation in partnership with SABC1.

Inspired by the spellbinding tales he first heard from the lips of his blind, great grandmother, Mkhulutshana Manqele, when he was a little boy growing up in the heart of rural Zululand, The Zulu celebrates Ngema’s return to the stage as a star actor for the first time in close on three decades.

At the outset of his show, Ngema recalls the indelible impact his great grandmother’s wonderful stories of old Zululand made on him. This was the start of his life-long love affair with story-telling, which later burgeoned into an illustrious international theatre career.

Offstage, Ngema recounts how as a young man at the outset of his profession, one of his early mentors, the renowned Polish theatre authority, Jerzy Grotowski, marvelled at the way an African storyteller becomes the characters he or she is talking about.

This inspired Ngema to follow his dream of keeping alive his family’s oral history, closely enmeshed with the historic saga of the Zulu Nation, from King Shaka to the Battle of Isandlwana.

The production sees Ngema performing to the accompaniment of maskandi star, Matshitshi Ngema.

Tickets for The Zulu’s Durban run are R150 per person (Tuesdays to Thursdays) and R200 per person (Fridays to Sundays). Children/students/pensioners pay R80. Block booking discounts are available. Booking is through Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com. Performances are at 8pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays) and 3pm (Sundays).

Win tickets

FIVE lucky Northglen News readers can each win two tickets see The Zulu. Email your name and contact number, add ‘Zulu” to the subject line and send to northglennews@gmail.com

The competition closes at midnight on Monday 11 November 2013.