Cultsha Kennis

On Saturday 26 October 2019 (a day after arriving back from our playwright’s residency programme!), Cultsha Kennis finally had the opportunity to see Danger in the Dark at the Baxter Theatre, a David Kramer musical, featuring music by his late and well-loved theatre partner, Taliep Petersen – but with a new libretto!    Danger in the Dark is a remake of the Kramer/Petersen hit of the 90’s, Poison, an upbeat musical that tells the story, through 8 lead characters and a 14 member chorus, of the atrocities of drug abuse on the Cape Flats, as well as the hope and dream for its inhabitants to overcome it all.   The story’s protagonist, Pamela ( Alexis Petersen ), is a young social worker who is encouraged by a housewife, Mrs Joseph ( Edith Plaatjies ), to take to the streets and challenge the status quo. Aware of the impossible cause before her, Pamela’s motivation increases once she discovers that her friend Juanita ( Rushney Ferguson ), a young rebellion and ...

The image of the ‘non-whites only’ bench in Queen Victoria Street Cape Town, a reminder of Apartheid South Africa, comes to mind when looking at the on-set photographs of Nwabisa Plaatjie ’s Florence & Wine in the Wilderness , a production consisting of two combined plays, which closed at the Baxter Theatre recently. Originally written by American playwright Alice Childress , each play uniquely highlights the various socio-political, cultural, communal and intimately personal narratives that takes place within a 1940’s African American setting. Alice Childress is acknowledged as " the only  African-American  woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades ”. The urgency of the voices of her stories are most certainly felt through the characters in both plays, particular in Tomorrow Marie, the lead female protagonist in Wine in the Wilderness .  Cultsha Kennis with Nwabisa Plaatjie Review of Florence Florence opened with an elde...

The Battered Housewives Club, written and directed by Zubayr Charles, is a school drama production that was staged on Friday 20 September at Goodhope Seminary Girls High School in Hope Street, Gardens Cape Town. Produced as an acapella jukebox musical, the show cleverly makes use of popular contemporary radio tracks to help tell the story of each of the victims, each who rendered a performance of the song during the storytelling.      Sally reveals her story in the second act  Starring an all-female high school cast , the show took us on a journey of five victims of gender-based violence who share their experiences at a support group, called The Battered Housewives Club. Fatima (Micaela Barnett; Grade 11), a quiet housewife with a black eye (she says “I am so clumsy”) who is known for her cooking, reveals that she accidently stabs her husband Ayoeb during a power struggle while making mince breedie in the kitchen, and what the consequences ...

The story of Cassandra Johnson in No “Good” In “Bye” sheds light on the plight of mothers and the issue of physical and environmental safety that affects their children and households on a daily basis in smaller communities. On Thursday 1 August 2019 at the Masambe Theatre , Lauren Snyders , who played the role of Cassandra , and her equally talented co- partner Shaun Smith , who played the role of Craig/Brendan, took the audience on an emotional journey of what it means to process pain as one revisits past memories in the midst of loss and grief.      The show took place over 4 days, with 5 performances. Upon entering the theatre, the set of Cassandra’s house was introduced to the audience: a kitchen table, a stove with tomato food brewing , a kitchen cupboard (with All Gold tomato sauce and a biscuit box!) with a Pick ‘n Pay packet hanging from the side. Other props were later introduced to support the story, such as an empty coffin referencing t...

Loukmaan Adams with Cultsha Kennis Author at #JustMen 2018 Directed by Heinrich Reisenhofer, #JustMen has returned to the Baxter Theatre after a successful run in 2018, and is currently playing from 17 July to 3 August 2019 . Book your tickets fast via Webticket . Show duration: 70mins. Age restriction: 13. Trigger warning : the content of this show addresses abuse, violence and murder. For more details on where to book:   http://www.baxter.co.za/shows/justmen-2/ This show was written and produced in response to the global outbreak of the #Metoo movement in 2016, where millions of women broke the silence on abuse, violence and murder . The show also encourages support and responsibility from men as a collective for what is a man’s part of this conversation, as per the show’s opening epilogue, “ we want men to show up, own up and open up ”. Further on in Heinrich’s address, and when sharing his own story, he also highlights how men are at war with themselves due to t...

Soos ‘os gisteraand gese’t, dis ongelooflik wat ‘n akteur kan doen met net 50 minute! Aangesien dat dit net die tweede keur wat ‘os Carlo Daniels op die verhoog gesien’t (die eerste keur was Blood Brothers by die Fugard Theatre in 2014!), hierrie one-man show was die perfekte geleentheid vir Cultsha Kennis beter vir hom te leer ken.     Carlo se performance het baie verskillende karakters vir ‘os bekendgestel: Chadwin Klip (bynaam Klippie) wat op verhoor is vir die moord van sy vriend Rooiste; Maggie Booysen, ‘n joernalis van etv news wat die moord verhoor geondersoek’t (Carlo was op sy tone die hele tyd want die joernalis dra net stilletos!); en Boeta Ballie , ‘n vrugteverkope sonder tanne met ‘n slap in sy voet, en wat sy ervaring van Klippie gegee’t vir die news broadcast. Die karakters het sommige tuie gebots ; daar was ‘n brilliante scene waar Klippie vir die joernalis ge’choke’t – ‘n waarlike demonstrasie van die talent van Carlo Daniels!   Albei he...

Salaam Stories , written by Ashraf Johaardien and directed by Niquita Hartley, was recently staged at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective in Observatory – the 2nd time that Cultsha Kennis has seen the show since 2003! Ashraf Johaardien is a Cape Town born playwright whose work has toured internationally. Salaam Stories is a development of the Artscape New Writing Program in 2006, directed by Professor Roy Sargeant. When the show ran at the Baxter Theatre in 2003, the show casted well-loved theatre personalities Chad Abrahams and Farouk Vallie Omar as well as Sufeya Johaardien and Niquita Ayesha Hartley – with Niquita stepping up as director of the show! This time Salaam Stories was executed as a one-man performance, played by Ashalin Singh, which tells the story of several Cape Muslim characters as they reflect on family tradition, history and cultural identity. The story begins with the main narrator arriving on set in eastern garbs, making wudhu (ablution) from a pot...