NDLOVUKAZI: THE MUSICAL cuts deep into exposing the impact of Gender Based Violence within communities

The production which performed for two days only August 21-22 at UJ Arts Centre CENTRE (KINGSWAY), needs financial support to spread its message to more people.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

Last Thursday, I went to UJ Arts Centre to watch a play about Gender Based Violence. Though I had seen the process of creating this play during its rehearsal at a school in White City, Soweto, a few days before, I never fully understood then the extent to which this production goes deep into the issues of this scourge that is wreaking havoc in communities in this country.

But on Thursday, the pain of violence was depicted so perfectly that the message was brought whom to sink among the audience. The acting was superb, and so was the choreography, complimented by vocalists, supported by instrumentalists.

First to perform was an JMPD choir, which sang songs that touched on the issues of violence. It was a soulful experience to witness beautiful voices from the choir.

The timing of staging the production was also perfect. So August is a month that is punctuated by conflicting messages that we receive every year in this country: one of celebrating women, and another of being reminded of the violence that women have to deal with.

These are the creative team behind NDLOVUKAZI: THE MUSICAL, a dance story musical production about the scourge of Gender Based Violence. It’s a thought-provoking musical told through cutting edge choreography, soulful music, and text. It follows a series of stories of young South African women. It also shows and highlight what these women go through in the name of love, experiencing so much, giving so much and yet receiving less. They sacrifice, compromise and loose what they believe in. Regardless of the circumstances they choose to hold on, hope for the best, telling themselves that things will be change, while things fall apart.

This is the last and final instalment of musical production, using a completely new cast. The

production is performed by 5 impeccable band members, 5 dynamic singers, 3 strong actors and8 versatile dancers, who all dives deep into portraying these complex characters and giving anew life to these cruel true stories.

It was a pity that such a powerful show that has a clear message revealing the impact of the scourge of Gender Based violence should only perform for two days only instead of more.

This is clearly a production that needs a financial injection to spread this message to more communities and hopefully assist in making our communities to be more aware of this violence and to get people involved in fighting this type of violence.