The son of late playwright Gibson Kente, Mzwandile Ngoqo, is overjoyed that a new East London theatre has been named after his Duncan Village-born dad, known as the father of township drama.
Ngoqo, 54, who lives in Soweto, paid a visit to the nearly completed 260-seat amphitheatre, which is being built in Hudson Park High School and which is the brainchild of the school’s head of drama, Pierre Perold.
“When Pierre showed me the theatre I was close to tears,” said Ngoqo.
“It was a goosebump experience. It is very fitting that the first theatre to be called after my dad should be in East London. I have a lot of respect for Pierre. People like him are custodians of our culture.”
He is also thrilled the theatre will be launched later this year with one of his father’s once-banned anti-apartheid plays, Too Late. “That is huge for me, and I and other members of my family will be invited to opening night. How cool is that.”
Ngoqo said his father had met his mother, Snowy Petersen, when he was married and she was a backup dancer in one of his first productions. His mother went on to be a backing singer for Margaret Singana.
“When I was 16 my father cast me in a play called Mama and the Load and then I was also a band member of the G-Kays, which was a backing band for one of his plays.
“I played bass guitar and we toured extensively. My father often told me we had so much in common.”
He is fiercely proud of his father’s activist work. “When the ANC was banned, Mandela and other leaders would meet at his house. He laid his head on the block for his country.”
Perold, himself a respected playwright, has been working toward this moment for four years. He met Kente at the Market Theatre in the 1980s, but felt his name had been forgotten. He said hosting Ngoqo at the school theatre was “a surreal experience”.
“We had a lot to discuss about doing one of his father’s musicals. Before he boarded the plane on Sunday evening we were both crying as we parted. He was so overwhelmed that someone had finally given his father some recognition and for me four years of planning had finally come to fruition.
“The theatre will be a living memorial to his father, and whenever people come to the venue they will learn about who Kente was. It was extremely important that I got his family on board. I want them to be part of this whole experience.”
Ngoqo changed his surname when he was in his 20s to reflect his “true” family name, an endeavour his father had also pursued. “Dad grew up in Stutterheim and had taken his grandmother’s surname,” he explained.
He said it was important to him that young performers would be trained in the Gibson Kente Theatre.
“This theatre will be in a school where they groom talent, which means more to me than if it was any other kind of theatre.” —
barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Full circle for proud Gibson Kente son
Ngoqo, 54, who lives in Soweto, paid a visit to the nearly completed 260-seat amphitheatre, which is being built in Hudson Park High School and which is the brainchild of the school’s head of drama, Pierre Perold.
“When Pierre showed me the theatre I was close to tears,” said Ngoqo.
“It was a goosebump experience. It is very fitting that the first theatre to be called after my dad should be in East London. I have a lot of respect for Pierre. People like him are custodians of our culture.”
He is also thrilled the theatre will be launched later this year with one of his father’s once-banned anti-apartheid plays, Too Late. “That is huge for me, and I and other members of my family will be invited to opening night. How cool is that.”
Ngoqo said his father had met his mother, Snowy Petersen, when he was married and she was a backup dancer in one of his first productions. His mother went on to be a backing singer for Margaret Singana.
“When I was 16 my father cast me in a play called Mama and the Load and then I was also a band member of the G-Kays, which was a backing band for one of his plays.
“I played bass guitar and we toured extensively. My father often told me we had so much in common.”
He is fiercely proud of his father’s activist work. “When the ANC was banned, Mandela and other leaders would meet at his house. He laid his head on the block for his country.”
Perold, himself a respected playwright, has been working toward this moment for four years. He met Kente at the Market Theatre in the 1980s, but felt his name had been forgotten. He said hosting Ngoqo at the school theatre was “a surreal experience”.
“We had a lot to discuss about doing one of his father’s musicals. Before he boarded the plane on Sunday evening we were both crying as we parted. He was so overwhelmed that someone had finally given his father some recognition and for me four years of planning had finally come to fruition.
“The theatre will be a living memorial to his father, and whenever people come to the venue they will learn about who Kente was. It was extremely important that I got his family on board. I want them to be part of this whole experience.”
Ngoqo changed his surname when he was in his 20s to reflect his “true” family name, an endeavour his father had also pursued. “Dad grew up in Stutterheim and had taken his grandmother’s surname,” he explained.
He said it was important to him that young performers would be trained in the Gibson Kente Theatre.
“This theatre will be in a school where they groom talent, which means more to me than if it was any other kind of theatre.” —
barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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