POPArt Productions is our content hub : a container for us to nurture, produce, fund and present work and stories that we are passionate about sharing – and often, that we are directly creatively involved in too. We specialise in theatre productions, but are also producing content within the POPArt collective which expands from publishing to film. Here’s a look at some of POPArt’s in house productions:
SASS (A South African Sketch Show) : Live Digital Broadcast
Status : Premiering March 2021 on POPArt digital channels.
We are looking forward to presenting our first ever Live Sketch Show in collaboration with many of our friends in Comedy. A South African Sketch show (SASS) will bring audiences a regular comedy show with a mix of live and digital sketches broadcast live in front of a studio audience.
SASS by name, SASS by nature, the show takes on the society and times we live in – hoping to hold up a mirror that inspires laughter as a preamble to social change.
The Development of the presenting pilot of THE SASS is supported by The National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC).
THE SERURUBELE STORYTELLERS SERIES : Live / Online & audio podcast (coming soon)
The Storyteller Series has had a place in our POPHeart since 2014. Hosted and co-produced by Lebogang Mogashoa and modelled on shows like The Moth, Risk and This American Life, our storytelling events have only one rule : all stories told need to be 100% true and happened to you. Usually touching, sometimes insightful and almost ALWAYS naughty, as in life, the stories told on our stage won’t shy away from the real dirt.
We organise the Storytellers, You organise the wine… and if you would like to tell a story, that’s only encouraged: we want to hear them all!
* Storytelling workshops are also available.
** Look out for our Serurubele Audio Series coming soon
AN UPDATED SYLLABUS FOR THE WOKE : Theatre
Status : Active, available for schools tours
An Updated Syllabus For The Woke is a play on South African history, tracing as far back as possible. That is, before the Dutch landed in the Cape in 1652 and all the way up to now. A line is drawn between how history has been taught/represented and the effect that it has on our understanding of the world and our South Africa realities today.
As all good satires do, this play holds a mirror up to the system but also to ourselves as we seek to recognise where and how we lost consciousness, leaving you questioning … Are we woke?
Commissioned by the Market Theatre Foundation and Windybrow Arts Centre. Developed in collaboration with the Kwasha! Theatre Company.
Available for schools tours. Download the prospectus here. USFTW Schools_Proposal_D2_Smaller
POPArt Improv (Live Performance : Theatre / Film)
Status : Active
A group of improvisors with literal hundreds of years of experience between them! POPArt Improv is the performing wing of Causing a Scene, who have been improvising together since 2010.
Regular performances are scheduled in venues throughout Johannesburg as well as online (ZoomProv). Make sure you check our social media or mailing list for announcements of upcoming performances, as well as for bi-annual open auditions for the group.
NO EASTER SUNDAY FOR QUEERS (2019)
Winner : Naledi Award Theatre for Best Fringe production 2019
Status : Tour fund-raising
While we cannot take credit for producing this production from scratch, we are proud to production partner with this incredible work and it’s makers to find opportunities to further share this story.
Written by : Koleka Putuma
Directed by : Mwenya Kabwe
Original Cast: Tshego Khutsoane, MoMo Matsunyane, Lunga Radebe & Market Theatre Laboratory students as chorus
UMSEBENZI KA BRA SHAKES (2019)
Status : On Pause / Digital
Produced in collaboration with The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Kwasha Theatre Company, Johannesburg Awakening Minds (JAM) and The Shakespeare Society of South Africa.
An exploration of text, adaptation, language and long standing issues put together in its own comedy of errors and mash ups.
Facilitated by: Phala O. Phala and Hayleigh Evans
ERROR SA COMEDY (2018)
Developed in collaboration with director, Kwasha Drama Company & The Market Theatre Laboratory. Based on Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”
A play within a play: A South African acting troupe is rehearsing Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. Rehearsal takes an unexpected turn when the “director” attempts to shift the performances toward the West’s standard of authenticity.
Directed by Christopher D Betts (recipient of the Julie Taymor World Theatre Fellowship at New York University)
Performed by Balindile ka Ngcobo, Khanyisile Ngwabe, Lesego Chabedi, Mathews Rantsoma, Millicent Tintswalo and Sinenehlanhla Mgeyi
NOT I (2017)
Presented in collaboration with the Centre for the Less Good Idea
Written by: Samuel Beckett (about the piece)
Performed by: Patricia Boyer
Coached by : Gretha Brazelle
IN BOCCA AL LUPO (2016)
Funded by POPArt Productions & The National Arts Festival with support from The Arts & Culture Trust and Nedbank Arts Affinity
Jemma Khan brings us the final instalment of her bewitching kamishibai series: An epic journey into the mouth of the wolf
Directed by: Jane Taylor
Written by: Jemma Kahn & Tertius Kapp
Performed by: Jemma Kahn
THE REAL DIRT (2016)
Within a two year period that coincided with his thirtieth birthday, Lebogang Mogashoa moved countries, lost a parent, and changed careers. He insisted that he was fine; all he needed was chardonnay, an entire carrot cake and a good night’s sleep – every single day. Until he was mugged at gun point just before his thirty-first birthday. He suddenly found himself buried under the weight of three decade’s worth of terrifying experiences. In The Real Dirt, he examines some of those experiences through gratifyingly personal and hilarious stories that arrive at a satisfying moment of human connection, and an Apple product.
Directed by : Hayleigh Evans
Written & performed by: Lebogang Mogashoa
UNFAIR LADY (2015)
A satirical and sometimes scathing look at the world of the woman’s magazines with all of it’s insistencies, fallacies and general nonsense.
Directed by : Orly Shapiro
Written by: Gwydion Beynon
Performed by: Hayleigh Evans & Rachael Neary
WE DIDN’T COME TO HELL FOR THE CROISSANTS: 7 DEADLY NEW STORIES FOR CONSENTING ADULTS (2015)
Winner: Standard Bank Silver Ovation award 2015.
7 Deadly Sins. 7 writers. 7 new stories. Jemma Kahn and her irreverent side-kick return in the eagerly anticipated follow up to the international cult hit The Epicene Butcher with stories that seduce the sinless and astonish the immoral. It’s unmissable and definitely not for children. Unless you are an awful parent.
Directed by: Lindiwe Matshikiza
Written by: Tertius Kapp, Rosa Lyster, Lebogang Mogashoa, Nicholas Spagnoletti, Louis Viljoen and Justin Oswald
Starring: Jemma Kahn and Roberto Pombo
TELL ME ABOUT IT
STATUS: Ongoing
‘Tell Me About It’ is an all new web series brought to you by POPart and AltEye productions. Basically, if you want to know what’s hot on stage right now, this is what you should be watching on your computer… Tune in to our YOUTUBE CHANNEL to see interviews with: Lionel Newton, Andrew Buckland, Derek Watts and the Sunday Blues, Donovan Goliath, Tara Notcutt, Conrad Koch, Sne Dlala and many more…
Also, check out our Events Section for our regular ongoing in-house events