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Saturday, October 3, 2015

EKMA 30TH ANIVERSARY



(Essop Khan, Savy Ramsamy, Jayshree Parasuramen & Warrick Frank)

This year, Essop Khan and Mohammed Ali celebrate 30th years of their theatre company, Ekma Productions (the name represents their initials).

Their friendship and highly popular acting partnership goes back 50 years and has seen them perform numerous productions around the country to hundreds of loyal fans. They have written 27 plays and, between them, have featured in close on 60 productions.

They had their problems in the apartheid era as they were considered terrorists or communists by the police. They were often hauled off to police stations for questioning and their houses were regularly searched for scripts. Their first professional production, Jamaal Syndrome, was presented in 1986 at the Libra Theatre in Reservoir Hills. It ran for two years.

The 30th anniversary will be celebrated with a new comedy show Fabulous Four in One which has performances at the eThekwini College this weekend followed by two performances at the Rajput Hall.

While Khan will direct and appear in the show, Ali will be the production manager. The rest of the cast features EKMA stalwart Savy Ramsamy as well as Warrick Frank and Jayshree Parasuramen.

Fabulous Four in One has performances on October 2 and 3 at 20h00 at the Ethekwini College (formerly Teachers’ Training College) in Asherville. Tickets are available at the Polar Shop in Sparks Road in Overport or phone 031 207 1798 or 072 492 9728.

The show then moves on to the Rajput Hall in Chatsworth for performances on October 9 and 10 at 20h00. Tickets available from 031 514 0000 or 072 492 9728.