If you appreciate innovative original live music, there is no reason to stay home tonight – with two of the region’s most innovative performers having separate gigs on in Durban this evening - Dr Thokozani Mhlambi on cello is performing his Zulu Songcycle at the Playhouse Loft this evening at 6.30pm for 7.30pm; and effervescent [...]
Durban theatre maker Roel Twijnstra honoured by Dutch King Durban’s Roel Twijnstra has been given the highest honour in his field, from his birth country, the Netherlands, that of Order for Artistic Excellence from the Dutch King. The recognition was based on a nomination made by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in [...]
2017 / 2018 Summer Sailing Season The Rear Commodores of Point Yacht Club have been hard at work getting the 2017 / 2018 Summer Season Sailing Calendar ready for the season. On the tail end of a hugely successful Bart’s Bash in the bay, October sailing gets cracking with the bigger chaps raring to go [...]
Seabrook's Theatre: Friday 22 Sept: 19:00 Alliance Française de Durban brings acclaimed multi-media production, The Alchemy of Words which searches to capture the enigma of French poet, Arthur Rimbaud, to the Seabrookes Thetre at DHS for one public performance only, on Friday 22 September at 7pm. In The Alchemy of Words, three artists, a puppeteer, [...]
Rhumbelow Theatre, Umbilo: Monday 30 October South Africa’s iconic piano show, A Handful of Keys, is coming to Durban and is on the lookout for a new pianist to feature in the line-up. As the show tours, the management is sourcing pianists in each region to be guests star joining Roelof Colyn and newcomer James [...]
In association with Concerts SA, legendary jazz pianist Andile Yenana presents Beyond Octave Trends Tour- 7 performances, 4 cities, 3 different provinces- with his band Umngqungqo Wabantu. Conceived as a musical metaphor, Beyond Octave Trends is a decade-long project through which jazz pianist, composer and teacher Andile Yenana aims to engage mainly legacy audiences such [...]
Playhouse Opera Theatre: Tuesday 26 September at 6pm Curtain Up: There will be a gathering to celebrate the life of well-known theatre all-rounder Themi Venturas who died last week, to take place in the Playhouse Opera on Tuesday 26 September at 6pm. The celebration will be in the form of a montage of performances, memories [...]
Hilton College: 15 – 17 September 2017 KZN’s premier arts festival, the Hilton Arts Festival, celebrated its 25th birthday with a bumper weekend of phenomenal art, music and theatre. In true festival style, the weekend saw a full kaleidoscope of haphazard weather patterns – from baking heat, to gale force winds, to pea-soup mist, biting [...]
“Our work must impact the world!” Durban: 27 - 30 September 2017 Internationally acclaimed KZN-born composer, cellist and academic, Dr Thokozani Mhlambi is presenting a series of special one-off Durban concerts and events for Heritage Month, embracing multiple genres and influences – from Beethoven to Mazizi Kunene – in and around Durban over month-end September. [...]
Botho Pan African Arts Festival 2017 28 September - 1 October 2017 Wushwini Pan African Centre will host a four-day arts festival titled Botho Pan African Arts Festival from 28 September to 1 October 2017 at Wushwini, overlooking the scenic Inanda Dam in the Valley of 1000 Hills. A packed weekend programme includes drama productions; [...]
The Jazzy Rainbow, Saturday 23 September This performance by the Burton Naidoo group of Kintsugi at The Jazzy Rainbow is part of the Concerts SA Venue Circuit which aims to foster a love and support for live music in our communities, as well as anchor small and medium sized venues in urban and rural Gauteng, [...]
Fans of Footloose - the iconic 80’s movie with a great soundtrack, featuring a youthful Kevin Bacon as the tenacious and rebellious city teenager, Ren and John Lithgow as the conservative Rev Shaw Moore, are in for a treat this week. Footloose has two different incarnations currently on the boards in Durban: the 17th annual [...]
One of the evocative photographs by Harry Lock from his exhibition of theatre portraits, Out of Character, which will be displayed at this weekend’s Hilton Arts Festival. The Hilton Festival has a special focus on visual arts this year with an array of art and photographic exhibitions. Lock has photographed master satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys who [...]
The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra Early Spring Season 2017 Durban City Hall: 24 Aug – 14 Sept Final concert: Thurs 14 September On Thursday 14 September, The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra wraps up its four-week Early Spring Symphony Season of sublime world class music which has been taking place at the Durban City Hall with a concert [...]
Obituary: Themistocles “Themi” Venturas 1958 – 2017 Last night the South African theatre community lost one of its brightest, most beloved and most versatile stars with the passing of Themistocles “Themi” Venturas who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He died at Hospice surrounded by his family: wife Trish and sons Matthew (29) and his [...]
This is the 25th Edition of "Shall We Dance" and it is a cracker of a show. Opening night is always exciting, especially on a Friday when the audience is getting into weekend mode. The long bar was well patronized so by the time everyone was seated, the ever wonderful Playhouse was abuzz. Hosted by [...]
Presented by the Young Performers this remake of the American musical has been adapted for Durban audiences by Director Daisy Spenser. Music Director Dawn Shelby also takes to the stage with the live band "The Reals", which includes well known Durban guitarist Barry Thompson. Other than local places and accents, the story follows the original [...]
Pieter-Dirk Uys’s famous alter-ego rewrites history Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre: 31 October – 19 November 2017 Get a revised history lesson from South Africa’s most famous white woman, Evita Bezuidenhout, as she presents her side-splitting, satirical stand-up Evita Bezuidenhout & the Kaktus of Separate Development at the Elizabeth Sneddon theatre on UKZN campus for a three [...]
Point Yacht Club Zhik 29er Worlds Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach, California: 31 July – 5 August Two phenomenal talents collided in an impromptu pairing that resulted in the title of 29er World Champion last month. This past weekend, a packed room at the Point Yacht Club heard the journey of Benji Daniel and [...]
Hilton College: 15 – 17 September Festival organisers are thrilled to have negotiated three much-anticipated, internationally-acclaimed major art exhibitions, as well as a myriad other carefully-curated exhibitions, to come to this year’s Hilton Arts Festival, KZN’s premier arts festival that takes place at the Hilton College from 15 – 17 September. This year, the main [...]
Fresh from its success at the recent 2017 Edinburgh Assembly Fringe Festival in Scotland, acclaimed playwright, director and producer, Lara Foot’s The Inconvenience of Wings and Karoo Moose transfers to the Hilton Arts Festival in KwaZulu Natal from 15 to 17 September. Foot is the CEO and artistic director of the Baxter Theatre Centre and [...]
Durban’s Dance Power Couple shake up Shall We Dance The annual showcase, Shall We Dance, returns to The Playhouse Company’s Opera Theatre for it’s quarter-centenary year, and choreographing the Belly and Line Dancing section of the show is Durban’s dance power couple –Warren and Senta Duffield. The showcase, which was started in 1991 by the [...]
In association with Concerts SA, Pedro the Musicman continues the national schools’ tour of XyloFun, a performance-based program designed to help teachers to implement the music curriculum effectively while having great musical fun along the way. In this third leg of the Xylofun national tour – following successful legs in the Free State and Gauteng, [...]