It’s opening weekend of the Cape Town Fringe festival this weekend! One of the features of this year’s Fringe is super short and snappy runs (often in multiple venues) – so if you come across something you want to see, act fast!
Here are the #CTFringe shows opening on Heritage Day weekend – 21 to 25 September
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Theatre
- Kwathi ke Kanti Kaloku – Celebration of isiXhosa literature and indigenous music
- The Funeral – Meditation on the fraught connection with life and death
- The Champion – Young man grapples with the legacy of being the child of a grass widow
- The System – Award-winning physical theatre show returns to SA
- Ndendile – Bridging urban and rural traditions
- The Edge of the Light – Delicate familial story of loss, perception and consequences
- Bayephi – Young girl committed to finding peace for her brother’s spirit
- Confessions – The story of a young gang member
- ilizwi lomzali – Young Andile takes a short cut to success by joining a gang
- Black Pride – Poetry and music
- The Woman With a Baby on her Back – Stage adaption of an Athol Fugard short story
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Group of young strangers’ lives are turned upside down by drugs in sport
- The Sisters Ugly – The other side of the Cinderella story
- I am not yet born – Stories of life inside – and outside – jail. Grades 8 to 12
- Kasi Stories: A Story not Often Told – Thoughtful exploration of the effect of absent fathers on our societies.
Comedy
- The Big, Big Comedy Show – One night of comedy genius only!
- Schoolboy – Nkosinathi Maki’s funny journey through childhood. PG13
- Jou Ma se BBQ – Texan stand-up Joe Emilio takes on life in SA
- ISMISM – The nature of existence, with Katharien de Villiers and Khayalethu Mofu
- In Whorefish Bloomers: The Waitresses’ Lament – Witty cabaret with sharp delivery
- Crazy Country Comedy – With Justin-ray Stoffels
- iComedy Kona Ekasi – Top quality stand-up presented by Kolping Mbumba
- Steke – Hilarious retelling of true stories about gender and sexuality
- The Book Detectives –Cairns & Cockrell unravel a murder in Fairytaleland
Family
- Luks – Lukhanyo runs into a spot of trouble when he goes against his mother’s wishes. Grades 4 - 7
- The Singing Chameleon – The tale of how Chameleon rises above adversity to become a hero. Grade 0 to 7
- The Water Warrior – What will happen when the water runs out? All ages
Magic/Illusion
- Hocus Pocus – Brendon Peel’s mystery-filled show
- Refocused – Magic meets laughter in Greg Gelb’s new show
Dance, Physical and Visual Theatre
- Rock to the Core – Mamela Nyamza’s brand-new work
- Woman on the Cross – a group of young women face life’s daily hardships
- Abangabonwa (The Unseen) – Standard Bank Ovation Award winner at NAF16
- Vuka – Multidisciplinary exploration of life after death
- Unknown Challenges – Aspirational piece encouraging youth to follow their dreams
- Access Me – The dancers of the Unmute Dance Company share their own stories
- Ellipses (extract) – Exploring the use and significance of this much-used form of punctuation
- Momentum – Community dance – rebooted!
- Ubuntu – Makukhanye Art Room’s After School Programme performers take to the stage
- Phefumla / To Breathe – Exploring the Cape’s gang culture through dance
- Powers of Lightness – Tossie van Tonder’s profound exploration of being South African
- Worst of Both Worlds – Two male actors explore female human trafficking and the drug trade
Music
- Jenny and the Jameses – Original Celtic folk band plays their emotive, original compositions
- Diana Ferus Celebrates Our Heritage! One show only
- Bam Bam Brown – Tickets now only R60
- Zamanani Brothers – Isicathamiya (traditional a capella) music
- Bars & Beats Emcee Challenge – Rising hip hop artists test their lyrical and performance skills.
- Reggae Heritage Experience – Ras M shares his greatest spoken word peformances
Also happening…
Black Art & Communities at Heart – A Decolonial Conversation in a Space Where it Matters: The Makukhanye Art Room will be hosting a discussion at 2pm on 23 September. See more here
