Alexander Upstairs to Present Mpapa Simo Majola in BLARE

The Alexander Bar, Café and Theatre will host BLARE, a solo dancing poem devised and performed by playwright, director, actor and choreographer Mpapa Simo Majola. A show that pays homage to the feminine and the ancestors, BLARE was written in collaboration with Sanelisiwe Yekani, Mpolokeng Chabane, Isah Ngalo.

BLARE is the physical theatre narrative of a man carrying stories and songs of women who died trying to find a prayer to mother God. These women now live and speak through Blare, still trying to find a prayer to Shesus. The show aims to speak to a deep understanding of the feminine, hoping to move beyond generic gender debates to celebrates the feminine, supported and enhanced by the masculine in a way that honours women. At a time when South Africa is plagued by the murders of women, BLARE aims to reveal a way to move in the world, a way to listen, and a way to respond without inflicting pain. Both women and men across all cultures can learn from this beautiful dancing poem.

Majola is based in Johannesburg but performs regularly in Cape Town. He brought BLARE to the Magnet Theatre in March and Theatre Arts Admin Collective in May 2017. Another of his solo theatre pieces, THE FUNERAL, first played the Alexander Upstairs in 2014, recently returning to the Mother City for a run at the Cape Town Fringe. A freelance practitioner whose collaborations include work with various production companies, playwrights, humanitarian organisations, community groups, filmmakers and musicians, Majola has written for organisations such as Ox Farm GB, South African History Online and the Goethe Institute. His collaborators include Jefferson Tshabalala, Billy Langa, Omphile Molusi and Phala O. Phala and he is a founding member of Playriot, a group of eleven writers who were selected nationally to be part of a writing residency at The Royal Court Theatre in 2013. The work he wrote under this residency, THE LAST MK FIGHTER, will be moving into production shortly.

BLARE runs at the Alexander Upstairs from 10 - 14 October at 19:00 nightly, with a 15:00 matinee on Saturday. Tickets are available from the Alexander Bar website, with seats costing R80 if booked and prepaid online or R90 if paid on collection at the bar. For telephone enquiries, call 021 300 1652. The Alexander Bar, Café and Theatre is situated at 76 Strand Street in the Cape Town city centre and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.