It’s just one week to go before the fourth edition of the Cape Town Fringe opens. Have you got your tickets yet? Here are some teasers from 10 more of the more than 100 productions on this year’s line-up.

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Directed by Chad Findlay, Greg Gelb’s Refocused is full of magical mysteries coupled with belly-aching laughter.

Rock to the Core is conceived and directed by Mamela Nyamza with creative input from performers and features Chuma Sopotela, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Zikhona Jacobs and Nyamza. The work aims to shock, shake and shove all there is to the status quo of arts in South Africa, just like rock music that changed the world. This piece will show that black female artists are fed up with the notion that they have to protest for people’s pedestal and approval.

Samthing Soweto: Singer, writer, composer and producer Samkelo Lelethu Mdolomba is one of the founding members of the South African a cappella group The Soil writing eight of 11 songs on the multi-platinum selling album. Experimenting with neo-jazz, alternative and a capella in a slick and emotive way, he re-launched his career in 2016 as a solo artist accompanied by a three-piece band.

Nkosinathi Maki in ‘Schoolboy’

Nkosinathi Maki wants explain to you what happens when a child loves detention in his solo comedy show Schoolboy. Maki delves into understanding the life of a black child trying to find meaning in the new South Africa as he shares his story of growing up attending school in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.

Shaka S. Septembir‘s Afrikaans poems, like Tequila, have Skop. Sex, love and death are highlighted when this poetry is linked with music and physical theater. Gertjie Besselsen is the dark figure at the wheel of the music.

Sleeping With The Enemy unpacks and unravels the complicated relation between those who desire to transform the townships and those who cannot endure the realities of informal settlements.

‘Spirit of Shakespeare in Africa’

Penned by Thami Mbongo, Spirit of Shakespeare in Africa examines the complicated relationship between a father and a son to illustrate the universal themes and power of Shakespeare’s writings, and its impact on everyday society.

Steke is a dark comedy performed by two actresses in Afrikaans, English and Setswana. The pieces aims to be the voice of women who do not have the courage to raise their voices against those who do not respect them.

Blaq Pearl Foundation presents Storie Van My Lewe: a one-woman, one-act piece featuring performing artist and activist Blaq Pearl, who channels the stories of four women who have in common the courage, strength and the ability to rise above their circumstances.

In The Alchemy of Words, three artists from different disciplines – puppetry, film and music –
search to capture the enigma of French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. Expect an immersive experience that combines artistic projections, puppetry and live music inspired by the diverse imagery from Rimbaud’s poetry – smoke filled battlefields, the lush countryside of the French Ardennes, colourful vowels, crimson seas…