(Sir
Roel Twijnstra & Sibongiseni Shezi)
In the last two years, the acting
department of AFDA Durban under the leadership of Sir Roel Twijnstra, has grown
into an important tertiary education institute that prepares stage and screen
actors for the industry.
The acting department is growing and has
during its third-year BA course already links with the industry through TV
series like Uzalo and Imbewu and cultural centres in KZN like
K-CAP and Wushwini.
AFDA partners as well with KickstArt, the
Playhouse and Twist projects. Its motto is to bring the industry to AFDA and
AFDA to the industry. The focus of AFDA Durban is on screen acting - it
developed a three-year screen acting course which is now also implemented in
the other AFDAs in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape-Town.
The stage actors produce innovative, new
and strong work as show on the AFDA Graduation festival in November in the
Playhouse. Entrepreneurship and branding
are at the centre of AFDA Durban.
(Sibongiseni
Shezi & Jake Lenferna de la Motte)
The AFDA Durban awards were announced on December
1, 2018. Best actors for stage are: Sibongiseni Shezi and Thokosiza Ziqubu for
their roles in Open Wide a new play
from Kobus Moolman. Both of them are recently casted in Uzalo and some independent film producers in KZN.
The Screen awards went to Kuena Khama,
Tamlyn Prosser and Khangisani Maziobuko for their roles in the AFDA Graduation
films that were shown on November 24 in the Gateway cinemas. Jade Millian, an
honours graduate was awarded for her play Circles
about drug prevention that premiered in K-CAP in Kwa Mashu.
(Tamlyn
Prosper & Angela Balkovic)
In March 2019, a new book will be launched Acting for Screen and Stage in South Africa
by Roel Twijnstra and Dr Emma Durden. A lot of the methodologies and experience
are prepared at AFDA Durban, Twist Projects and the personal experiences of the
two writers. It follows the two other books Theatre
Directing in South Africa (2014) and Producing
for Theatre in South Africa (2016).
AFDA Durban is situated at 2A Highdale Road
in Glen Anil, Durban. Phone 031 569 2252. For more information visit https://www.afda.co.za/campus/3/Durban/