Designer – Sarafina Magazine

A Conversation with Penny Simpson

Penny Simpson is a costume designer and visual artist. After completing her theatre design studies at Sadlers Wells Design School, she returned to South Africa and began her career by joining CAPAB and designing for several of their productions. She has devoted more than 40 years to the theatre industry and has designed costumes for notable productions including; Hadrian VII, Miss Julie, Mother Courage and her Children, Present Laughter, Relatively Speaking, Show Boat, The Diary of Anne Frank, Exit the King and Fiddler on the Roof, to name a few. Her most recent theatrical credits include; Blood Brothers, Sunset Boulevard, Cabaret and Rocky Horror. During the last several years, Penny has focused her attention on portrait painting. Several of her paintings can be seen displayed in the foyer of Theatre on The Bay. Currently. Penny has returned to her theatrical roots by designing the costumes featured in Mel Brooks’ The Producers, which is currently running at Theatre on The Bay followed by a run at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino in Johannesburg.

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February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Advice, Art, Artist, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Costume Designer, Designer, Interview, Joburg, Johannesburg, Musical, Now Playing, Painter, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatre on The Bay, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: CAPAB, Cape Town, Costume Designer, Costumes, Designer, Interview, Montecasino, Musical, Painter, Penny Simpson, Photography, Pieter Toerien, Portrait painter, Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Producers, Theater, Theatre, Theatre on The Bay Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Chronicles of an Independent Theatre-Maker

In 2018 during our interview with theatre-maker Dara Beth, we spoke about the return engagement of her play, Nasty Womxn. Now, 18 months later, Nasty Womxn is back for its third return engagement, this time featuring a new cast, a reworked script and coinciding with Dara’s latest theatrical offering, The Chronicles of Athena, Babes. Tasked with staging two independently produced works which almost run concurrently, we ask Dara to share her thoughts around this creative process. Continue reading →

August 14, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Advice, Artist, Arts, Baxter, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Designer, Director, Essay, Guest Post, Now Playing, Producer, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Alexander Bar, The Baxter, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: Alexander Bar, Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, Dara Beth, Director, Essay, Guest Post, Masambe Theatre, Nasty Womxn, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Chronicles of Athena Babes, The Furies, Theater, Theatre, Theatre-maker, UCT, Women, writer Leave a comment

A Conversation with Kyra Loubser

Kyra Loubser is a Cape Town-based hair and makeup artist, stylist and beauty editor for Kuier Magazine. Initially entering the industry as a hairdresser, Kyra was introduced to the world of television with M-Net working as part of the styling team for the Miss Soweto Pageant. She then went on to be a part of the styling team for the Miss South Africa Pageant, which she considers to be a career-defining moment. Kyra was then approached by Idols winner, Karin Kortje to do her styling, hair and makeup which jumpstarted her career as a stylist, hair and makeup artist and saw her work expanding into theatre. This led to introductions to names such as Alistair Izobell and Kim Engelbrecht. About a year later, she was offered the position as Tracey Lange’s stylist for Bravo! on Kyknet. Kyra also spends her time mentoring and upskilling four ‘Kyra Fairies’ who have shown an interest and passion for the industry. Her work has spanned TV, film and theatre but it’s her latest project, which sees her designing and creating the makeup looks featured in Kinky Boots at the Fugard Theatre, that has everyone buzzing. Continue reading →

July 31, 2019September 26, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Advice, Art, Artist, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Designer, Interview, Makeup Artist, Musical, Now Playing, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Advice, Angels, Bravo!, Cape Town, Conversation, Entertainment, Film, Homebrew, Karin Kortje, Kinky Boots, Kuier Magazine, KykNet, Kyra Loubser, Lamees Albertus, Lola, Makeup Artist, MNet, Musical, Musical Theatre, Photography, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, This is My Life, Tracey Lange, Tussen Ons, TV, Women Leave a comment

A Conversation with Carin Bester

Carin Bester is a performance artist, actress, set designer and art director who has been working in the film, television and theatre industry for the past 10 years. In 2015, Carin performed her first performance art piece Verlies. She was drawn to performance art because of its immediacy and honesty. She views it as a medium in which she can express herself freely as she interrogates issues of social importance effectively. In 2017, she did My Body My Life, a performance installation which took the statistics of gender-based violence in South Africa directly to the viewer. Since then she has done various other pieces about gender-based violence in South Africa. Currently, she is experimenting with documentation of performance elements to create print and video art. A piece called Dress of Remembrance, which was worn on August 1st 2018 as part of the #TheTotalshutdown March against gender-based violence to Parliament, has been included in an exhibition at the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum. Cape Town audiences recently saw Carin’s set design featured in Figure of 8 Dance Collective’s Wag/Waiting which debuted at the Baxter Theatre. She will be performing a new piece Till Death Do Us Part this August as part of the Vavasati International Women’s Festival at The State Theatre in Pretoria.

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July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Art, Artist, Arts, Baxter, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Designer, Film, Fine Artist, Interview, Performer, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, Sculpture, Set Design, South Africa, The Baxter, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Actor, Actress, Advice, Art, Artist, Baxter, Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, Carin Bester, Conversation, Designer, Figure 8 Dance Collective, Film, Interview, My Body My Life, Performance Artist, Photography, Set Design, Set Designer, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Wag/Waiting, Women Leave a comment

A Conversation with Naledi Majola

Naledi Majola is an actor, performance-maker and sound designer. In 2018, she was seen on stage in Tara Notcutt’s historic all-female production of The Taming of the Shrew and in Stream, a multimedia performance work led by Jennifer Steyn at the Baxter Theatre. She makes her feature film debut later this year in The Banana Splits. Her performance work, Where is the black samurai? debuted at Arcade, a durational live art platform curated by Gavin Krastin, and was most recently performed at the 2018 ICA Live Art Festival. Naledi also designs sound for performance, having recently done so for her own work, as well as AMES, written and directed by Andi Colombo in 2018 and the upcoming production of Tales from the Garden written by Ameera Conrad, which will run at the Baxter Theatre’s Masambe Theatre followed by a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival later this year.
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May 9, 2019May 22, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Art, Artist, Arts, Baxter, Cape Town, Composer, Conversation, Culture, Designer, Interview, music, Musician, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, Sound Design, Sound Designer, South Africa, The Baxter, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Actor, Actress, Ameera Conrad, Ames, Cape Town, Composer, Conversation, ICA Live Art Festival, Interview, Kathleen Stephens, music, Naledi Majola, Performance, Performance Artist, Photography, Sarafina Magazine, Sound Design, Sound Designer, Soundscape, South Africa, Stream, Tales from the Garden, The banana splits, The Taming of The Shrew, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, UCT, Where is the black samurai? 4 Comments

A Conversation with Tessa Denton

Tessa Denton is an actor, director, choreographer and designer. She was recently appointed to Gate69’s art department where she is tasked with creating the obscure, creative, daring and over the top wigs, headpieces, earrings and accessories. Over the years, she has created many looks for a variety of clients, whether it be with make-up, body paint, dress setting, sets, decor, props, wigs, accessories or even just conceptualising ideas events. As an actor, some of her TV credits include; Die Boekklub, Getroud met Rugby, Donkerland, Binnelanders, 7de Laan and Generations. Select theatre credits include; Mis, Altyd in my drome, The Rocky Horror Show, Grease, The Full Monty and Lady Macbeth in the adult pantomime Macbeth. Later this year she’ll be seen on stage in Mis in Johannesburg followed by two TV appearances in Fynskrif and Sara se Geheim. Currently, her wig designs can be seen on stage at Gate69 in their latest show, Non-Specific.

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May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Artist, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Designer, Gate69, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, Singer, South Africa, Stylist, Television, Theater, Theatre, Uncategorized, Wig Designer, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: 7de laan, Actor, Actress, Afrikaans, Altyd in my drome, Choreographer, Conversation, Designer, Die Boekklub, Director, Donkerland, Fynskrif, Gate69, Generations, Getroud met rugby, Interview, Macbeth, Mis, Musical Theatre, Photography, Rocky Horror, Sara se geheim, Television, Tessa Denton, The Full Monty, Theater, Theatre, TUT, TV, Wig Stylist, Women Leave a comment

A Conversation with Mariechen Vosloo

Mariechen Vosloo is a costume designer and actor. She received her BA Drama degree from Stellenbosch University in 2011. Mariechen has assisted designer Birrie Le Roux on various productions, some of which are West Side Story, Marat/Sade and The Inconvenience of Wings. Mariechen has also worked in the South African and international advertising and film industry. She was the costume supervisor on Christiaan Olwagen’s film Johnny is nie dood nie, and subsequently designed the costumes for Die Seemeeu and Kanarie, also directed by Olwagen. She was also costume designer for TV series Dwaalster and Die Spreeus. We sat down with her to chat about Die Seemeeu which arrives in select theatres on April 5th 2019. Continue reading →

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Costume Designer, Culture, Designer, Film, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Uncategorized, Woman, WomenTags: Actor, Actress, Afrikaans, Cape Town, Chekhov, Christiaan Olwagen, Conversation, Costume, Costume Designer, Die Seemeeu, Die Spreeus, Dwaalster, Film, Interview, Johnny is nie dood nie, Kanarie, Marche Media, Movie, Photography, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Stellenbosch, Television, The Seagull, TV Leave a comment

A Conversation with Kanya Viljoen

Kanya Viljoen is a theatre-maker, performer and designer. Recently, Kanya wrote and directed RAAK, which debuted at the Vrystaat Kunstefees and was nominated as Best Production of the festival. Furthermore, it has been nominated for two Kyknet Fiësta Awards and is heading to US Woordfees 2019 for a limited run. Earlier this year, Kanya was awarded South African Theatre Magazine’s Best Emerging Director Award. In 2018, Kanya directed Like Hamlet, which was performed at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective as part of the Annex Theatre Bursary. Her script, mank, was selected for further development by Kunste Onbeperk’s Teksmark and she was awarded a writer’s bursary for this script. Currently, Kanya is an Andrew W Mellon scholar, completing her MA in theatre-making at the University of Cape Town.

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February 20, 2019May 19, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Artist, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Designer, Director, Fleur du Cap, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Playwright, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, Singer, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatre Awards, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: Actor, Andrew W Mellon scholar, Cape Town, Director, Fleur du Cap, Huey Huey, Kanya Viljoen, KKNK, Kunste Onbeperk, Like Hamlet, mank, Raak, Set Designer, Singer, Teksmark, Theatremaker, UCT, Woordfees, writer 5 Comments

A Conversation with Lamees Albertus and Widaad Albertus

Sisters Lamees and Widaad Albertus have become a force to be reckoned within the theatre industry. Currently working at The Fugard Theatre, Lamees holds the position of Theatre Manager and Associate Producer while Widaad not only holds the title of Wardrobe Supervisor and Production Assistant, but is currently also juggling the task of working as lead Costume Designer on several of the Fugard Theatre’s most anticipated upcoming shows including The Demon Bride and Significant Other. While most of their work tends to happen behind the scenes and away from the spotlight, Lamees recently had her work recognised by being featured in the Mail & Guardian’s 2017 Book of South African Women: On the Shoulders of Giants.
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May 16, 2018May 17, 2018 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Advice, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Costume Designer, Culture, Designer, Interview, Now Playing, Organisation, Photography, Producer, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, West Side Story, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Advice, Candice van Litsenborgh, Canned Rice, Cape Town, Conversation, Costume Designer, Costumes, Designer, Eric Abraham, Lamees Albertus, Mail & Guardians 2017 Book of South African Women: On the Shoulders of Giants., Photography, Producer, Production, Production Assistant, Sarafina Magazine, Significant Other, South Africa, The Demon Bride, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Theatre Manager, Theatre-maker, Wardrobe, Wardrobe Supervisor, Widaad Albertus, Women 2 Comments

A Conversation with Mari Borstlap

Marí Borstlap is a theatre director, writer and designer. Following a successful run at the Vrystaat Arts Festival earlier this year, her most recent directorial endeavour, Winterboom, begins performances at Aardklop on October 3rd. We sat down to chat about the show and her perception on the current climate for female theatremakers.

To read this conversation in Afrikaans please click here. Continue reading →

September 27, 2017September 27, 2017 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Art, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Designer, Director, Interview, Photography, Playwright, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, writerTags: aardklop, Advice, Afrikaans, Chris de Beer, Conversation, Designer, Director, Kristalvlakte, Mari Borstlap, Opinion, Performance, Photography, Playwright, Production, South Africa, Stellenbosch, Theater, Theatre, Winterboom, Women, writer 1 Comment

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