Director – Sarafina Magazine

A Q&A with Sue Diepeveen

Sue Diepeveen is an actor, theatre practitioner and the owner of The Drama Factory in Somerset West. Her new show, So You Want To Be A Trophy Wife? is available to stream as part of this year’s virtual National Arts Festival. As the owner of The Drama Factory, Sue is heavily involved in mentoring programmes for young actors and is committed to ensuring a safe and affordable space for new work to see the light of day. In the midst of the national lockdown, Sue has spent the last few months creating her show while also dealing with the unfortunate impact of the global pandemic on her theatre.

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July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Arts, Cape Town, Director, Performer, Playwright, Producer, Q&A, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: Actor, Actress, Cape Town, Director, Interview, Lockdown, National Arts Festival, Producer, Q&A, So You Want to be a Trophy Wife, South Africa, Sue Diepeveen, The Drama Factory, Theater, Theatre, vNAF, Wynne Bredenkamp Leave a comment

A Conversation with Nicola Hanekom

Nicola Hanekom has been a freelance actress, director and writer for the past twenty years. Her theatre work as writer/director includes a series of site-specific productions; Betésda, Lot, Babbel and Land van Skedels. As a writer and performer, Nicola created Trippie, and her self-penned one-woman show Hol/Running on Empty. These together with her latest play In glas have garnered twelve Kanna awards, eleven Fiësta awards, two ATKV writing awards and one Aartvark award. Nicola was also awarded the Eugène Marais Prize for her collection of plays Die pad byster. She has written and directed two short films, Trippie and Unspoken. Her short, Trippie won two Silwerskermfees awards. Cut-Out Girls is her first feature film and arrives in local cinemas on November 22nd.

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November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Arts, Author, Cape Town, Conversation, Director, Film, Filmmaker, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Playwright, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, SWIFT, Television, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: ACT, Actors, Actress, Advice, Babbel, Betésda, Cape Town, Conversation, Cut-Out Girls, Die pad byster, Director, Dwaalster, Film, Filmmaker, In glas, Land van Skedels, Lot, Movie, Nicola Hanekom, Performance, Photography, Television, Trippie, TV, Unspoken, Women, writer 1 Comment

A Conversation with Antoinette Louw

Antoinette Louw is a multiple award-winning stage and screen actress and writer. She has appeared in leading roles on South Africa’s most popular TV series including 7de Laan and Binnelanders. Her theatre credits include Women of Troy, The Women who Cooked her Husband which she produced and directed, Rudely Stamped, Engele Soner Vlerke, Die Trommel, Die Vagina Monoloë, Afspraak, Dis ek, Anna and ‘night Mother which she also adapted into its Afrikaans translation Nag ma. In 2014 she won a SAFTA award for her role in Deon Meyer’s Die Laaste Tango as well as a nomination for Best Actress in the Afrikaans short film Totsiens, Pa. Antoinette also starred in the Afrikaans feature film ‘n Man Soos My Pa. Her recent film credits include the multi-award-winning films Axis Mundi, Sew the winter to my skin, An Act of Defiance and Nul is nie niks nie. She is currently appearing on screens as Sara in the film adaptation of the beloved Afrikaans folktale Die verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer. Continue reading →

October 18, 2019October 18, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Arts, Author, Cape Town, Conversation, Film, Interview, Joburg, Johannesburg, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Producer, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Television, Theater, Theatre, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: 7de laan, Actor, Actress, Antoinette Louw, Author, Axis Mundi, Binnelanders, Bram Fischer: An Act of Defiance, Conversation, Die Storie van Racheltjie de Beer, Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer, Director, Film, Nag Ma, Night Mother, Photography, Producer, Silwerskerm, Silwerskerm Fees, South Africa, Television, The Story of Racheltjie de Beer, Theatre, TV, Women, writer Leave a comment

A Conversation with Liezl de Kock

Liezl de Kock is an actor, director, theatre-maker and lecturer. She performed the lead role of Janet in the Ovation Award-winning and double Fleur du Cap Theatre Award winner Pictures of You, which was the highest-grossing theatre production on the fringe at the 2009 National Arts Festival. Liezl was also nominated for a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for her role in Rob Murray’s Womb Tide. She performed with Andrew Buckland in Crazy in Love, which received an Ovation Award and the Amsterdam Fringe Fest award for Best International Production. Her performance in Crazy in Love received a Naledi Theatre Award nomination. Her final Master’s production, Piet se Optelgoed won a Silver Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival and was nominated for Best International Production at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival. Earlier this year, she was nominated for a Naledi Theatre Award for her role as Sussie in Reza de Wet’s African Gothic directed by Alby Michaels. She is currently reprising her role in Athol Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under The Immorality Act at The Fugard Theatre following its debut run earlier this year at the 2019 Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees.

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October 2, 2019October 2, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Director, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Actor, Actress, Advice, Athol Fugard, Cape Town, Clown, Clowning, Conspiracy of Clowns, Conversation, Director, Greg Karvellas, Liezl De Kock, Photography, South Africa, Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Theatre-maker, Women 1 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 Siphokazi Jonas

Siphokazi Jonas is a writer, performer, and poet. She has written, produced, and performed in four one-woman poetry shows. She wrote, produced and performed in a multi-genre theatre production, Around the Fire, which was staged at the 2016 Artscape Spiritual Festival and the 2018 Women’s Humanity Festival. Her stage work includes Natalia da Rocha’s Adam Small Festival and Mandla Mbothwe’s Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth. In 2018, she presented her directorial debut, The Widow, as part of Artscape’s New Voices programme. The production returns to the Artscape Arena at the beginning of August 2019. Jonas has been a featured act at numerous poetry sessions in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Her experience with spoken word has led to multiple invitations to judge poetry slam competitions in Cape Town and Johannesburg. She has also performed with renowned musicians including, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Freshlyground, Pops Mohamed, Dizu Plaatjies and Dave Reynolds. Jonas made history in 2016 as the first African poet to perform at Rhetoric in California. In February 2019 she was also a headline act on the first ever South African national poetry tour, the Fresh Poetry Tour. She was crowned as the first Cape Town Ultimate Slam Champion in 2015 and was the runner-up in the prestigious 2016 Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, coming second out of 600 poems submitted nationally. Her work was longlisted again in 2017.

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August 7, 2019August 7, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Advice, Arts, Artscape, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Director, Interview, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Poet, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: Around the Fire, Artscape, Cape Town Ultimate Slam Champion, Conspiracy Theory, Conversation, Director, Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth, Performer, Photography, Poet, Poetry, poetry slam, Poetry Under the Stars, Siphokazi Jonas, The Widow, What We Inherited In The Fire, Women, Wrestling with Dawn, writer Leave a comment

A Conversation with Olivia Fischer

Olivia Fischer is an award-winning playwright, director and producer. After graduating with her degree in theatre and performance, specialising in theatre-making from the University of Cape Town, Olivia premiered Still at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in Los Angeles, CA. Still was awarded five Hollywood Fringe awards including Tvolution’s Best International Show and the Conversation Creation award. In 2018, Olivia opened a production company called LIV Studios, a company that aims to develop female-identifying playwrights and theatre-makers. Olivia is a published writer: her autobiographical monologue Coming For You was recently published in the Market Laboratory’s anthology Between the Pillar and the Post: an anthology of South African monologues and scenes. Her other theatre credits include writing and directing an adaptation of Sindiwe Magona’s The Cruel King Lives! called Thandiwe: The Loved One and directed Duncan MacMillan’s Lungs. Her main focus as she continues to grow as a theatre-maker is telling stories of womxn: their resilience, their strength but above all, their undeniable capacity to love.

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July 24, 2019July 24, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Art, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Director, Interview, Now Playing, Photography, Playwright, Producer, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, Womxn, writerTags: Between the Pillar and the Post: an anthology of South African monologues and scenes, Cape Town, Coming For You, Director, Hollywood Fringe Festival, Interview, LIV Studios, Lungs, Olivia Fischer, Playwright, Producer, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Still, Thandiwe: The Loved One, The Cruel King Lives!, Theater, Theatre, Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Theatremaker, UCT, Womxn, writer Leave a comment

A Conversation with Shelley Lothian

Shelley Lothian is an award-winning choreographer, director, singer, actress and dancer. Her performance credits include The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Boys in the Photograph, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You, Show Boat and Cabaret. She directed Chef, Rattle and Roll; The Purr Factory and Maybe Baby It’s You. She served as Resident Director on Janice Honeyman’s Show Boat, Matthew Wild’s Cabaret and West Side Story; David Kramer’s Orpheus in Africa and District Six- Kanala, and most recently King Kong with Jonathan Munby at the Fugard Theatre. She was also Associate Director on the international musical Tiger Bay. She has choreographed various productions including The King and I, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, District Six- Kanala and Sneeuwitjie. Shelley’s other choreographic credits include My Fair Lady; Chef, Rattle and Roll and Liefling – all of which received Naledi Theatre Award nominations, as well as Fiddler on the Roof and The Pirates of Penzance which both won the Naledi Theatre Award for Best Original Choreography. She is currently starring in the Fugard Theatre’s production of Kinky Boots where she also serves as Resident Director. Continue reading →

July 3, 2019September 26, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Actor, Actress, Arts, Cape Town, Choreographer, Conversation, Dance, Dancer, Director, Interview, Musical, Now Playing, Performer, Photography, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, Singer, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Actress, Advice, Cape Town, Choreographer, Conversation, Dancer, Director, Kinky Boots, music, Musical, Naledi Award, Performer, Photography, Resident Director, Shelley Adriaanzen, Shelley Lothian, Singer, South Africa, The Fugard, Theater, Theatre, Women 2 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 Janni Younge

Janni Younge is a director and producer of multimedia, theatrical and visual performance works, with an emphasis on puppetry arts. Janni’s work has been performed widely internationally and she has gone on to be awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre, several Fleur du Cap awards for puppet design and the Nagroda award for direction. A former director of Handspring Puppet Company for four years, she currently runs Janni Younge Productions and concurrently directs UNIMA SA. Janni’s works include the creation and direction of Ouroboros which toured extensively in South Africa, Europe and India, The Firebird which toured in the USA and Take Flight, currently touring Europe. With Handspring, Janni also directed revivals of William Kentridge’s Woyzeck on the Highveld and Ubu and the Truth Commission and worked with Handspring on War Horse and on the Bristol Old Vic’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also created and directed puppetry for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Tempest.

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April 17, 2019April 17, 2019 by Sarafina Magazine Categories: Advice, Art, Artist, Arts, Cape Town, Conversation, Culture, Director, Fine Artist, Fleur du Cap, Interview, Photography, Producer, Production, Sarafina, Sarafina Magazine, South Africa, Theater, Theatre, Theatre Awards, Theatremaker, Uncategorized, Woman, Women, WomxnTags: Advice, Art, Artist, Arts, Conversation, Creator, Director, fine art, Fleur du Cap, Handspring Puppet Company, Janni Younge, Lumka, Ouroboros, Photography, Puppet, puppeter, Puppetry, Standard Bank Young Artist, The Firebird, Theater, Theatre, Ubu and the Truth Commission, UNIMA, War Horse, Women 1 Comment

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