Learning from the best

Legendary actor coaches Windhoek Gymnasium drama clubs
Mariselle Stofberg
Michelle Mushonga

After the Afrikaans and English drama clubs’ successful theatre evening on 20 June and their exceptional results in the ATKV Tienertoneel competitions, many were left wondering: what’s next for the aspiring actors?

It seems that the young thespians will be treading new waters at an upcoming theatre festival. For the first time ever, Windhoek Gymnasium’s plays (the English drama group, the Afrikaans drama group and the ATKV Tienertoneel) were entered in the Curro Create National Youth Theatre Festival taking place on 2 September 2019. Unlike other play festivals, Curro primarily focuses on mentoring educators and learners, so that they progress with each passing year.

To mentor the Windhoek Gymnasium plays, Curro secured the talented actor, writer, filmmaker and lecturer, Nicola Hanekom. As a director, her work includes ‘Cut-Out Girls’, a film that explores date rape with the aim of creating social change. Additionally, Hanekom wrote and directed the award-winning site-specific series of ‘Lot’, ‘Betésda’ and ‘Babbel’, which collectively won six Kanna Awards in 2012. Not only is Hanekom an exceptional writer, but she is also a noteworthy actress whose acting highlights include the films ‘Dis ek, Anna’, ‘Faan’, ‘Vir die Voëls’ and playing Ingrid Jonker on stage in ‘Altyd Jonker’. For her self-penned one-woman play, ‘Running on Empty’, Nicola Hanekom won a Fleur du Cap award.

During the intense eight-hour workshop, Hanekom tweaked very subtle details in the plays. According to the young actors, all these tiny changes made a very big difference.

William Titus, a member of both the Afrikaans and the English drama group, learned to better connect with his character with Mrs Hanekom’s help: “I learned to not only think like my character but also to be my character.”

Hanekom provided tips on voice projection, body language and much more. Like many others, Tsitsi Pazvakawambwa said she saw a very big improvement in her acting when she put Hanekom’s techniques to the test.

When asked how he felt about the theatre festival after being coached by Nicola Hanekom, James du Preez said, “I feel a lot more confident! I feel that, as a cast, we all have a better idea on how to improve our acting, not just in our play, but overall.

With the third term quickly approaching, the day of the theatre festival is drawing closer and closer. On behalf of the Imago team, I wish all the participating actors a wonderful time and as we say in theatre, ‘break a leg’.