The Blue Album is an autobiographical one-woman theatre performance, by Vuyelwa Maluleke that gently, but truthfully confronts the violences of home. The production is making its debut in Cape Town from 16 to 19 June 2026 at Theatre Arts in Observatory.
This production is directed by the 2026 Naledi Award nominated movement director and choreographer, Ernest ‘Ginger’ Baleni, who carefully crafts the performance through a physical language that is delicate, shaping the emotional and visual architecture of the piece.
The performance is set in the township of Makaleng, following the story of a young black lesbian woman who returns home after having been forced into exile, called back by her father’s illness. Upon her return, she is confronted by the community and intimate structures of family that enabled the violences that forced her to be away. The performance uses monologue and movement to interrogate the violences of corrective rape.
Vuyelwa Maluleke, the writer and performer of this work, delivers a performance that has earned her recognition at the 2025 Kippies Fringe Award for Outstanding Performer, as well as a nomination for Best Performance in a Fringe Theatre Production at the 2025 Naledi Theatre Awards. Soon after Theatre Arts, The Blue Album will make its debut in Makhanda for the 2026 National Arts Festival.
For those who have left home, those who find it hard to go back home or those who have been hurt by their homes – The Blue Album offers a space for reckoning.
What: The Blue Album
Where and when: Theatre Arts from 16 to 19 June 2026
Tickets: www.theatrearts.co.za
WS
