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Thursday, October 21, 2010

TWISTERS FOR HOLLAND

(Pic: Bhekani Shabalala, Sphindile Miyeni, Sean de Klerk and Menzi Mkhwane)

Four Durban actors to perform in Holland.

Four actors from Durban have been selected to perform in an international theatre production of TWIST, based on Charles Dickens’s classic tale, Oliver Twist, and are set to jet off to Rotterdam at the end of October.

The production is to be staged by the Theater Groep Siberia, in the Netherlands, and will run throughout December and January in Holland and Belgium. This updated musical, directed by ground-breaking Dutch director Joland Spoel, is set in a modern-day nameless city, which could as easily be Rotterdam or Johannesburg.

The four Durban actors who auditioned earlier this year are Bhekani Shabalala, Sean de Klerk, Sphindile Miyeni and Menzi Mkhwane.

Shabalala is an actor with local industrial theatre group The Problem Solving Theatre (PST) Project, and also has a host of TV and movie credits to his name, appearing recently in the award-winning film My Little Black Heart and SABC 1’s Durban beach drama, Bay of Plenty.

Sean De Klerk is one of Durban’s top young actors, nominated for a number of Durban Theatre Awards, a regular in Kickstart productions, and seen recently on stage in Othello and in the children’s production of David and Goliath.

Sphindile Miyeni has just returned from the stage in Johannesburg, where she appeared in Jerry Pooe’s vibrant production of King Dinizulu, the last warrior king at the Windybrow theatre.

Menzi Mkhwane is the son of renowned actor Bheki Mkhwane, and is a final year student in the Department of Drama at Durban University of Technology. A very talented young actor in his own right, this will be Menzi’s first professional role, as he finishes his final drama exams just days before leaving for Holland.

The four actors will spend three months together in Rotterdam, as guests of Theater Greop Siberia, and will give a number of workshops as well as performing. This cultural exchange project is a result of the partnership between the exciting new Durban-based group Twist Theatre Development Projects and Theatre Groep Siberia. The project is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa.

For more information contact Emma Durden on 082 673 6662 and for details on the Twist Theatre Development Project visit www.twistprojects.co.za