A HOWL IN MAKHANDA

A Howl in Makhanda is an award-winning, semi-autobiographical theatre work that follows four South African teenagers at an elite all-girls boarding school whose act of rule-breaking exposes the unequal ways discipline, power, and morality are enforced. Weaving together passages from Sylvia Plath, Kurt Cobain, and Allen Ginsberg with original writing, the play becomes an archive of the struggle, resistance, and inner lives of the girlchild. It interrogates themes of high school pregnancy, structural racism, classism, queerness in adolescence, sexism, peer pressure, religion, family, loyalty, freedom, and identity, revealing how young women navigate systems that seek to shape and silence them.
Written and directed by Qondiswa James, the production features sound design by Jannous Aukema, lighting design by Themba Stewart, and movement and choreography by the original cast, with performances by Ketsia Velaphi, Alice Findlay, Oratile Manamela, Nicola Shapiro, and Linda Shabangu. The production takes place at Joburg Theatre – Space.com, presented in partnership between POP Art and the Youth and Community Development Unit at Joburg Theatre. Age restriction: 16+.