The once-off performance programmed as part of the Market Theatre Laboratory’s 30th anniversary is set to tell a painful and powerful tale.
ZikkaZimba Productions and The Market Theatre Laboratory present Hijinks Theatre’s, Born Naked. The production tells the story of two young drag queens in Johannesburg.
Born Naked will have one performance at the Ramolao Makhene Theatre on 2 November.
Under the careful direction of Kirsten Harris, this dynamic young duo featuring Kopo Jake Nathane and Lethabo Bereng bring this celebratory and challenging story to the stage of The Market Theatre this November.
This creative offering has been adapted and devised in response to Stephen Kotze’s original text assisted by Ameera Patel and Paul Rowlston.
Born Naked focuses on Blaq Widow’s ‘coming of age story’ and her relationship with her drag mother, Queen Bling. It is a story about two young drag performers navigating their way through glitzy, colourful and often violent spaces in South Africa, with particular reference to Johannesburg.
It is directed by Kirsten Harris (Hijinks Theatre) and performed by Jake Nathane (Rhodes university graduate) and Lethabo Bereng (Market Theatre Laboratory graduate).
The play refers to the true story of Thapelo Makhutle, who was brutally murdered in a violent hate crime in 2012 in Kuruman in the Northern Cape.
Survivors and victims of horrific acts of hate crime in South Africa have inspired the production to tell this story because more often than not, South Africans forget the names and faces of those who have suffered when media houses move on to the next ‘breaking news’ headline.
Born Naked is a celebration of Queer Communities and runs at 65 minutes and bookings can be done through Webtickets or purchased at the door. The play has allowed for a reinvention of collective memories of Thapelo.
The play is a joyous celebration of the life of this talented drag queen.
The stage is filled with glitz, glamour, wigs, make-up, fashion, excellent lip-syncing and perfectly-timed choreography but beneath the veneer there is a poignant tale of rejection, isolation and an unfulfilled friendship between Makutle’s alter ego, Queen Bling and a younger transvestite, Blaq Widow, whom the Queen takes under her wing literally and most powerfully in a dramatic end which leaves the audience almost numbed to applaud immediately at the curtain call for the two brilliant performers in the production.
Details: thozama@marketlab.co.za
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