World Theatre Day was celebrated on 29 March and we are dedicating the next few INDUSTRY posts to the realm of theatre.

We caught up with Artiste, Miché van Wyk to unpack the heartfelt story of Jantjies and the Pearls.

Miché auditioned for ICE Artistes with this piece and it really hit all the right emotional chords of an honest and raw story.

"My heritage is deeply rooted in Steinkopf Namaqualand. 

Surrounded by alot of fresh air, field, bushes, rocks and the famous September flower season. Where Nama culture is the lifestyle and the people are taking care of one another. And that is the case with this play and the character Ruth Jantjies. 

The sense of community is a big theme in the play therefore it was not an unfamiliar idea to me. I come to realise that Namaqualand and Cape Town people are not that different from each other when it comes to their humanity. 

I had to do alot of research about the lifestyle in Cape Town, specially District six during the 1960’s . 

Lucky for me alot has been written on it. The testimonies of so many residents from back then described so many detail that gave me a good sense of the world of the play. What made it more fun  to play this character was that it was culturally driven. It has coloured culture all over it and it was refreshing to just play in a world that felt like home. 

I debriefed from the process by doing things that me as Miché like. 

I wrote, sang and caught up with friends and family. Out of experience I think that it is very important to have a psychologist or mental health facilitator  in the room throughout a process because we are all just human with feelings and trauma and most of the time in the work space we are telling difficult stories that can be triggering. We need to make sure that our artists are emotionally well because we constantly sacrifice our whole body to do the work and to tell the story."

Jantjies and the Pearls can be seen at KKNK on these days:

• 1 April 2023, 13:00

• 2 April 2023, 16:00

• 3 April 2023, 19:00

• 4 April 2023, 13:00

And Suidoosterfees for one day only:

Date and time: 28 April 19:30

Go and support local theatre, we have such a depth of talent here in South Africa.

#iceartistes #theatre #kknk