Thank you for your Service, the Best Script winner at the 2021 Baxter’s Zabalaza Theatre Festival, comes to the Baxter Masambe theatre stage, for a limited season from 25 September to 5 October 2024 at 7pm, with Saturday matinees at 2pm.
Bulelani Mabutyana joins actors and writers of the play, Aphiwe Livi and Buhle Qinga, to direct the two-hander, which also won the Zabalaza Best Director award and was nominated for Best Actor. It was also nominated for a Fleur du Cap Best New South African Script and Best Performance by an Ensemble awards.
Thank you for your Service is a powerful and emotional physical theatre production which plays out against the backdrop of Gugulethu. Performed in isiXhosa and English, the play tackles the trauma that soldiers and their families go through while in service and how little the government offers them in return for their loyalty and patriotic deeds.
When a young man – who followed in the footsteps of his father – returns home to visit his family, after completing his training in the army, he must deal with the reality of life and its impact on communities in a township. His parents have aged at a rapid rate and his younger brother has been sucked into gang life.
Thank you for your Service was conceived during the first lockdown after seeing a movie about ex-military soldiers. For the two actors, this was their first attempt at writing a script. Despite the challenging time and difficult process, they persevered and produced a play text that was eventually published by Junkets Publisher and is available for sale from The Baxter.
Thank you for your Service team
Apiwe Livi is a director, writer, actor and choreographer. He studied performance at New Africa Theatre and contemporary dance at Jazzart, where he performed in numerous productions.
Buhle is a dancer and theatre practitioner. He is a former member of La Rosa Spanish Dance Company, and studied theatre stage practice at Artscape, covering the technical aspects of theatre making, including his favourite, lighting. He holds a certificate in Arts and Culture Development at community level.
Director Bulelani Mabutyana is coordinator of the Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival and a Magnet Theatre graduate. In 2012 his production, Worst of Both Worlds, won the Best Production award at the Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival and in 2014 he was the recipient of the Emerging Director Bursary (GIPCA) at Theatre Arts Admin where he developed and created a production called Blood Stain.
What: Thank you for your Service
Where and when: Baxter Masambe theatre stage from 25 September to 5 October 2024
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
