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Isidingo star on stage for the first time

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Away from the bright lights and make-believe world of television soapies, performing in a stage play can feel like hard work. Motlatsi Mafatshe, who plays Sechaba Matabane on the popular SABC 3 soapie Isidingo, says he has enjoyed the adrenalin rush of his first stage production, Exile.

“On TV the acting is captured on camera and is very technical,” he says. “We shoot in sequence and take smoke breaks and coffee breaks. By contrast, what happens on stage is what the audience gets to see. There is no second take.”

According to the Isidingo soapie storyline, Mafatshe’s character is currently on a visit to Ghana. This has allowed him three weeks’ leave to rehearse and perform at the Festival.

“The character I play here is different from the character I play on television daily”

Mafatshe’s TV character, Sechaba, a Community Liaison Officer at Sibeko Gold, is a physical man who has worked with his hands his whole life. He is not a deep thinker and runs on emotion. But on stage in Exile, Mafatshe plays Tsepo, a budding councillor and unfaithful husband who is the son of a liberation movement comrade who died in exile. Mafatshe notes the contrast between the two roles.

“The character I play here is different from the character I play on television daily,” he says. “The character I play on television is a BEE man with a mkhaba (big belly). The character I play on stage here is emotional and intense.

I love comedy and my role on television is sometimes comic. However, the character I am playing here is deep.”
Mafatshe says he needed to be strong, physically and mentally, to be on stage.

“It has taught me the importance of fitness,” he says. “I need to be fit so that I can push the acting for an hour or more without a break. I also need to be mentally strong so that I can keep my character believable.”

“On stage,” he says, “the audience can dismiss you in an instant.”

Exile, Glennie Hall, 6 July, 10pm

– By Khanyile Mlotshwa

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