TWO Kingsway High School grade 10 pupils made their mark on stage at the 11th Musho! International Theatre Festival at the Catalina Theatre at Wilson’s Wharf on Sunday, 17 January.
A 20 minute production, ‘The Last Straw’ with a strong message of ‘be careful what you say, as your words can affect other people’, was performed by Olebeng Mogane and Phumla Cele.
Script assistants were Anele Madiya and Nombuyiselo Msomi and the team received guidance from teachers, Sham Naidoo and Kaylin Venter.
The festival took place from 13 to 18 January and is dedicated to small works and the celebration of the skill of the solo or duo performer.
The girls started work on the production in grade 9, after exams. The brief was to tackle a social issue and ‘minding one’s words’ was the obvious choice.
After many hours of fine tuning, the team came up with the final product. Kingsway was the only school to perform at the festival.
‘be careful what you say, as your words can affect other people’
The production was a collaboration of poetry and dialogue. Phumla played three characters, a foster mother, mean school girl, and a boyfriend who grows up to be the mean girl’s husband. “It was quite difficult playing different roles, especially male, but all my characters were well-received by the audience.”
Olebeng’s character focused on a ‘broken girl’.
“My character never spoke out, but later on she does not allow people to take advantage of her and she is freed from the shackles of the power of words.”
Following on their stage success, they were invited back to the Catalina for a workshop on Monday, 18 January, where they received tips and guidelines from professionals.
“The girls produced an excellent piece. They worked hard and gave of their best. They showed maturity beyond their years and sent out a powerful message, that ‘words can destroy, words can build’. It’s important to watch what you say. It’s also a warning to people in light of social media, if one says something in public, one can’t take it back,” said Sham.
With three of the girls studying drama, they are now motivated to tackle future projects, including a performance at the school’s cultural evening.
