Audition date: April
26, 2016
The Playhouse Company is holding auditions for celebrated
playwright and director, Duma Ndlovu’s play, The Game, which will form part of the Company’s 20th annual South
African Women’s Arts Festival from August 9 to 13.
Set in a fictitious Middleburg prison in 1993, The Game takes place as Nelson Mandela
and many other political prisoners have been released from jail by the
apartheid government and the country is preparing for the first democratic
election. To celebrate this milestone, prison officials at Middleburg prison
decide to release one of the female prisoners. But there’s a catch: the warder
informs them that the captain has given instructions that the female prisoners
should decide among themselves as to who is to be released. This, of course,
sparks off a major argument as the women all argue that they could not vote for
someone else when all of them desperately want to go home. This results in one
of the prisoners coming up with a game that will allow the decision to be made.
The end result is a call for unity in a play written by Ndlovu in 1996.
The Playhouse Company is looking for experienced actresses
to play the following characters. The three other roles have been cast.
Bhanoyi (20): A
spunky juvenile who is the life and soul of the party in jail. She was tried as
an adult and convicted when she was 17. She seems not to have a care in the
world, and seems to enjoy herself in jail. Obviously she gets into everyone’s
nerves with her pranks and childishness.
Madombolo (between 65
& 70): She is a grandmotherly figure who looks as if she does not
belong in jail. She appears delusional and is always on her own. She seems slow
and is usually the last person to get the joke. Half the time she is
reminiscing about her children and seems to be talking to “unseen voices” a
lot.
Pretty (between 25 &
30): Pretty is a product of rape. Her white father raped her domestic
worker mother, hence her looks. She is half white, but speaks SiSwati because
she was raised by her mother in Nelspruit (Naspoti) She is a sex worker and has
been hardened by the streets. She is a bit on the dare-devilish side, a child
of the streets.
Stru’s God (between
50 & 60): A streetwise older
woman. She has spent her entire adult life in and out of prisons. She is a
pickpocket and is what is usually referred to in the streets as uKleva. She is
a bull fighter and does not take nonsense from the other prisoners. She is the
most experienced prisoner and she carries that around with her. She has been
trying to find God now that it is clear that crime will not win her a lottery
ticket.
Thembi (between 40 &
45): Thembi was dealt a serious blow by life when a group of teenagers came
to her house and took her son away to burn him during the turbulent days of the
80’s. She was a church-going, God- loving woman, but the experience of watching
her son being burnt to death traumatised her and brought out a side of her that
previously did not exist. She went to consult with Sangomas who told her to
exorcise the demons by watching one of the other children being tortured and
burnt to death. In one of life’s cruel blows, she and the children who torched
the later victim were all arrested, whereas the boys who torched her son were
never apprehended.
Only experienced professional candidates will be considered.
Each auditionee needs to prepare two three-minute monologues for her audition:
one that is similar to the character for which she is auditioning; and one that
contrasts with the character for which she is auditioning. Each auditionee
needs to bring a CV with them, as well as a head and shoulders picture of
herself to the audition.
Auditions will take place on April 26. To book an audition,
phone Kipi Skweyiya on 031 369 9463 between 09h00 and 12h00, and between 14h00
and 16h00 from April 18 to 22. No voice messages will be accepted.
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