The Playhouse Company - Duma Ndlovu's The Game for Playhouse Company festive season

2016-11-10

Highly-acclaimed director and playwright Duma Ndlovu's celebrated play, The Game, has been included in The Playhouse Company's exciting festive season programme, and runs in the Playhouse Loft Theatre from 15 to 24 December. 

Some of South Africa's top names in the entertainment world will star in the production: Sindi Dlathu;Dawn King;Nqobile Ndlovu; Nomasonto Dlamini; Sheila Khumalo; Buhle Samuels; Lungile Mkhize; and Vuyiseka Cawe. 

The Game is set in a fictitious women's prison in Middelburg just a few months before South Africa's first democratic elections, and amid the crumbling embers of the apartheid state. The prisoners are told that one of them will be released to mark the occasion.The catch is that the prisoners must decide among themselves who is to be released. This sets the cat among the pigeons and what follows is a gritty telling of each prisoner's fascinating personal story.

In The Game, we meet several captivating characters: a spunky 20-year-old who was tried as an adult and convicted at 17. Another is a 25-year-old woman who is the result of the rape of her domestic worker mother and her White employer. These two are joined by a 60-year-old 'career prisoner' who displays her experience of being behind prison walls for most of her life.

We are also introduced to a 45-year-old woman whose life was never the same after a group of teenagers abducted and burnt her son to death in the violent period before the end of apartheid. Those who had torched her son were never apprehended, and she was the one who ended up behind bars.

In fact, there is so much intrigue and so many riveting twists and turns in this drama,that it's not to be missed!

Duma Ndlovu is a Soweto-born director, producer, journalist and playwright who is well known for works such as Bergville Stories, The Game, The Ritual and The Journey. He is the creator of both Muvhango and Uzalo, two of South African television's most popular television series.

Award-winning actress and singer Sindi Dlathu is best known for her television roles as Nomfundo in Soul City and as Thandaza in Muvhango. She began her professional life understudying the lead role in Sarafina! at the tender age of 14, and has gone on to perform with Billy Ocean, Randy Crawford and Abigail Kubheka.

Dawn King is a South African actress best known for her starring role as Lindiwe Xulu, the wife of self-made gangster Muzi Xulu, in the SABC1 telenovela Uzalo. Also an experienced radio actress, motivational speaker, multi-lingual MC and indigenous musician, King was born and raised in Durban, and studied at the Technikon Natal, now the Durban University of Technology. 

Sheila Khumalo is also a Durban actress, singer, playwright and songwriter who has worked in the entertainment industry since the early 1970s, working with the likes of Steve Kekana, Sophie Mgcina and Joyce Thabe.

KZN actress Lungile Mkhize is best known for her role in the soapie drama Uzalo, while Vuyiseka Cawe is popular for her roles in The Gift (Mzansi Magic), Rhythm City (eTV) and Rockville Season 3. 

Nomasonto Camascar Dlamini hails from Newcastle in KZN, and has been seen at the Playhouse in K-Cap's Zion, as well as at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and at Johannesburg's Market Theatre.
 

Buhle Samuels is a South African television personality and actress who is best known for her portrayal of the villainous Matshidiso Mofokeng SABC 2's Muvhango, for which role she was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the 2nd Annual Royalty Soapie Award. 

The Gameis playing in the Playhouse Loft Theatre from 15 to 24 December. Tickets are R80 for the preview on 15 December, and R100 throughout thereafter. Tickets may be purchased from the Playhouse Box office on (031) 369 9596/9540 and from Computicket outlets nationwide. Substantial block booking discounts can be obtained by calling Dawn on (031) 369 9407.Please note: no under 16s.

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Issued: 8 November 2016

For press enquiries and images, please contact Samukele Ngubane, Marketing and Communications Coordinator on (031) 369 9409 OR marketing1@playhousecompany.com.