South African Road Trip’s ‘Good Hope’ is a swinging and exuberant musical experience, including uplifting songs, sensitive songs, close harmony and invigorating dance and music.
The cast, led by the accomplished men of the Khayelitsha United Mambazo Choir and four renowned female Xhosa singers, with musical accompaniment of two imposing South-African musicians, all hail from the Langa, Nyanga, Khayelitsha townships around Cape Town, and are conquering the world with their Xhosa songs, dance and music.
The Khayelitsha United Mambazo Choir could be considered the nephews of Ladysmith Black
Mambazo, and excel at the isicathamiya, a capella singing South African way, a sound made world famous by Paul Simon through his album ‘Graceland’, which sold more than 16 million copies and
won the 1987 Grammy for Album of the Year, and world tour.
The choir can be seen at Cape Town’s harbour, where they perform regularly at the Victoria &
Alfred Waterfront. But you don’t need to book a flight to South Africa to hear them...
With dazzling costumes, a beautiful video stage set and personal narratives by the artists, you will be immersed in a pure and sincere South-African experience.
This exuberant new edition of South African Road Trip is packed with traditional music, both cheerful and sensitive. Enjoy this vibrant authentic show!
Cast:
Bulelani Zola Qumza, Thanduxolo Arthur Qumza, Xolisile Sydney Hobhoshe, Simphiwe Een Hobhoshe, Mzwabantu Eric Dunywa, Zwelandile Mbedu, Melumzi Bethwell Nyikana, Lindisipho Lennox Tsawe, Nontutuzelo Nyiki, Nomapostile Nyiki, Xoliswa Tom, Lungiswa Plaatjies, Sabu Jiyana, Mkokeli Moses Masala (Kim)
Creative team:
Producer: Inge Bos, Bos Theaterproducties Amsterdam
Director: Albert Klein Kranenburg
Musical Supervisor: Jeroen Sleyfer
Choreography: Silumko Koyana
Video Design: Catharina Scholten
Video footage: Stefan Hurter
Costume Design: Dorien de Jonge
Lighting Design: Bart van den Heuvel
South African Road Trip - from Khayelitsha, via Darling, to London’s West End
2006: The Beginning
South African Road Trip has its roots in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa’s largest township. One day, there, Dutch producer Inge Bos ran into a street performance by the Khayelitsha United Mambazo Choir. “I was immediately enchanted by the talent of these artists” - Inge Bos
2006: Voorkamerfest
On the spot, she invited the K-men to perform at the Voorkamerfest in Darling, September 2006. This unique festival, founded by Inge and her husband Wim Visser, with the support of Pieter Dirk Uys and the residents, takes place in the living rooms of various Darling residents. It became an instant hit!
2009: Amandla! Mandela
She decided to ask the men to participate in the new musical Amandla! Mandela, at that time her work in progress. A year after that, the choir gave 130 performances in all the large theatres in the
Netherlands. From that moment on, their career flourished in the Netherlands.
2011: Celebrating South Africa
The Khayelitsha United Mambazo Choir and its first solo theatre performance Celebrating South Africa.
2014: A Tribute to Madiba
The first South African Road Trip is born: South African Road Trip 0 A Tribute to Madiba! It not only
included the Khayelitsha United Mambazo Choir; the company joined forces with female singers and live musicians. From that moment on, South African singers and musicians, Lungiswa Plaatjies en Nomapostile Nyiki have been part of the cast.
2016: Celebrating Life
A second South African Road Trip follows: South African Road Trip - Celebrating Life. The year after that, the same performance is presented once more, this time as a Christmas special. Our South African Road Trip artists are joined by Jitsvinger. Jitsvinger is an Afrikaaps (Afrikaans with local Cape Town dialect) vernacular performer who combines Hip Hop, poetry, self-composed music, theatre and storytelling.
2019: Good Hope
South African Road Trip number 3. Singers Nontutuzelo Nyiki and Xoliswa Tom join the cast, as do South African musicians Sabu Jiyana en Kim Masala. These 14 artists presented the South African Road Trip – Good Hope.
2022: Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre, London’s West End
Supported by the Dutch theatre audiences, a substantial amount of money is raised to launch an
international career. Unfortunately, this amount was needed to support the performers in South
Africa during the Covid pandemic. Nevertheless, Good Hope will be performed on West End for the first time from October till November 2022.
THE CAPE TOWN AREA
Since 1934, the word township had been used to define a newly developed area set aside for
non-whites. Prior to that year, townships were generally referred to as locations. However, in the thirties of the last century there was no law in the largest province of South-Africa – the Cape Province - that forbade non-whites to live wherever they wanted. On the contrary, practically every town and village in the Cape area had neighbourhoods where people of colour and white people lived together. However, after the introduction of apartheid in 1948, this changed. The 1950 infamous Group Areas Act decided that every community had to have its own living area. The act caused a huge number of forced removals that seriously affected the brown and black communities in particular.
In the period until 1980, one out of every four brown South-Africans were forced to move. Only one out of 666 white South-Africans did.
At a ferocious rate, new townships were built outside of the ‘white’ cities. Indeed, in most cases, a geographical dividing line created a truly physical segregation a mountain, a valley or a barren plain. However, in some cases, only a road or a railroad track separated the white from the non-white area. It is understood that practically none of the people involved left their houses and homes voluntarily, to move to the new townships.
Now in 2022, a popular misconception is that the entire population of the townships is poor. In
reality, in the large Cape townships, e.g. Langa (“Sun”), Gugulethu (“Our Pride”) and Khayelitsha (“New Home”) – together accounting for over a million residents – you will find a large variety of dwellings, from shacks built from wood, corrugated sheets and cardboard, to modern stone-built houses, multi-storey houses that would not have been out of place in a former ‘white’ Cape residential area.
Bos Theaterproducties presents
South African Road Trip:
Good Hope
Director: Albert Klein Kranenburg
Musical Supervisor: Jeroen Sleyfer
Choreography: Silumko Koyana
Peacock Theatre
Portugal St,
London WC2A 2HT
Tuesday 25 October -
Saturday 5 November
Press night:
Tuesday 25 October at 7.30pm
Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm
Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 2.30pm
Box Office:
Tel: 020 7863 8000 (12pm - 6pm)
online: www.sadlerswells.com
