Up for some riotous entertainment?
Then be sure not to miss the award-winning Off the Record, a unique challenge-based game show being presented by Johannesburg’s Kiri Pink Nob at the Foxwood Theatre in Houghton, on Saturday, March 16, at 15.30pm.
The production combines panel, quiz and game shows, using panel banter to present a sharp take on trivia quizzing.
The panelists drive the content of the show with wit, humour and daring commentary, while during the general knowledge quiz, points are scored for various correctly-answered trivia questions. The interesting twist, however, is that the facts or answers are masked in sharp framing based on the source material. Think the BBC’s QI.
The hugely entertaining game-show aspect involves impromptu physical games based on the content.
Speaking about the concept, Kiri Pink Nob founder Jefferson Bobs Tshabalala says: “The tasks and challenges are the game – the ‘sport’ of it all, the panel’s quips are the gems – the ‘magic’ of it all, and the trivia in the quizzes is the unpredictable jewel – the ‘wow’ of it all.
“Here, the overt flamboyance of the township meets the subdued vileness of suburbia, and the blend is as beautiful as it is intriguing. A romantic mingle of palates that makes for an evening of riotous entertainment.
“Every show is one of loud chants, deafening screams, points scored, bonuses earned, victories felt, losses, winners, losers, prizes, fines, penalties… the whole game-show shebang.
“It is interactive, improvised theatre like you have never witnessed it before and the biggest player of every night is the audience.”
In 2017, Tshabalala won two awards at the Cape Town Fringe Festival for Off the Record, while in 2018 he scooped the Gold Ovation Award at the Grahamstown festival for the production.
This is the first time the live arts production house will present a show at the Foxwood Theatre and Tshabalala is excited to have the opportunity to stage Off the Record at the venue.
“We are thrilled to be presenting this offering at Foxwood Theatre. It is a beautiful, intimate space and we look forward to a lasting relationship with the venue.”
Tickets for the production are R100 online or R120 at the door and can be booked on http://skybookings.net/or mail theatre@foxwood.co.za . Food will be on sale at the venue both before and after the show and there will be a cash bar. Foxwood House is at 13 5th Street Houghton.
Audiences can also purchase copies of Jefferson’s recently self-published book Khongolose Khommanding Khomissars for R150.00
ABOUT KIRI PINK NOB
Kiri Pink Nob is fast carving a name for itself in the creative space as a dynamic production house that seeks to be a leader in the practice of producing nuanced, contemporary South African art and entertainment.
The company produces plays, sketch-comedy shows, poetry-in-performance productions and slams, stand-up comedy shows and variety performance events (music, reading, games symposiums etc.).
It boasts a myriad productions, including the Naledi Award-nominated Secret Ballot, A Farsenating Blackfarce and Poet.O.Type.
Its flagships are Poetry Overload, Sketching Hard, TEWOP (The Elite Wing of Poetry), Off the Record and its Live Arts Sessions.
ABOUT KPN FOUNDER JEFFERSON BOBS TSHABALALA
Tshabalala recently started producing game shows for stage and screen. He also works as a performance trainer, dramatic arts teacher and dramaturge.
He creates works across various genres, ranging from orthodox drama to hip hop theatre, and was nominated at the 2014 Naledi Theatre Awards for the Best Emerging Voice award.
His 2015 production, Secret Ballot, was nominated at the Naledi awards for Best Ensemble production.
In 2014, he became a director in residency at the Market Theatre tasked with creating a new play, South Venturing North, for senior students at the Market Theatre Laboratory to be staged during the Student Festival at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and the Arts Alive festival in Johannesburg.
As an independent theatre producer, Tshabalala has etched a unique niche for himself as a professional director and experimental creative, striking a fine balance to cater for an emerging and established theatrical market.
He has worked as a writer, director and performer. At Kiri Pink Nob, he works as the managing and artistic director.
To decipher Tshabalala’s creative output, one must be familiar with the terms Ub’Dope, superior quality and dedication to one’s craft; wacketry, atrocious quality and horrendous neglect of discipline and excellence; and sketching hard, superior quality with populist appeal, a dynamic blend of dope meets whack.
As a performer and actor, Tshabalala has appeared in Mute Echoes, directed by Warona Seane; Sis Doll`s, directed by Ntsako Mkhabela; A Midsummer Night`s Dream, co-directed by Megan Godsell and Belinda Belseck; Yerma, directed by Leila Henriques; You Fool How Can The Sky Fall?, directed by James Ngcobo; Broken Dreams, directed by Pusetso Thibedi; The Poet.O.Type, directed by Khutjo Green; Boom Bap vs Swag Rap, directed by Rethabile Mothobi; and J.Bobs Live (Boom Bap vs Swag Rap and Tower of Tewop), co-created with Simphiwe Bonongo and Bernett Mulungo. He played Macbeth, in France, in Mcbeth Quand Meme, directed by Jean-Paul Delore. Tshabalala has also appeared in two of his game shows, Location Lekeyshini Lokasie and Off the Record. Under the direction of Billy Langa and Mahlatsi Mokgonyana, he has appeared in uBhoboza noBooBoo, a hip hop musical and poetry-in-performance extravaganza.
As a director and writer, he made his debut with Exit – Exhibition in Transit, followed by Infazwe Yelifa, Ntwa Yaboswa – Psedo Bantu-neo Nguni-quasi Native and Missionary Positions. Then came Ityala Lom`hlawulo, Cauterized Ameoba, The Man’s Man Men and Amakwerekwere. These were followed by Matters of the Heart, Love Bite and Uittrek Intrek en Trou.
Flames on Manhod Mountain, directed by Lidija Marelic; A Farsenating Blackfarce, directed by Pusetso Thibedi; and Boom Bap vs Swag Rap, directed by Rethabile Mothobi, were all written by Tshabalala.
For Pule wa Pusha, a one-man stand-up comedy show by NRH Welsch, and Reconciliation, by Pusetso Thibedi, Tshabalala appeared as director. He also wrote and directed Poet.O.Type and Secret Ballot.
For the Market Theatre Laboratory, Tshabalala wrote and directed South Venturing North. He collaborated with Nhlanhla Mahlangu on We Can’t as co-director. For Young at Home, directed by Gcebile Dlamini, Tshabalala appeared as dramaturge. Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars, directed by MoMo Matsunyane, was written by Tshabalala.
He has directed a number of awards ceremonies, including the Savanna Comic’s Choice Awards in 2018 and the South African Hip Hop Awards in 2015.
As a judge and adjudicator his credits include the Save The RAPS Festival (St John’s College), the Community Theatre Festival (Market Theatre) and the Zwakala Festival (Market Theatre), all in 2013. These were followed by the Current State of Poetry Slams in 2015, 2016 and 2017 at the Joburg Theatre, 2017’s TAAC Bursary, the Market Theatre’s Part-time Course in 2018 and senior directing, performance and research essay examiner at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2018.
As a producer and promoter, Tshabalala’s credits include Notes to Beverly, a physical theatre production directed by Khutjo Green and written and performed by Nyaniso Dzedze. He also produced Umkhondo by Sabelo Soko and Mein Camp by Tony Jackman.
Tshabalala is also very involved in developing a contemporary artistic community that seeks to unite the multitude of disciplines and practitioners. He does this by acting as an events impresario who hosts performances which construct a platform for such forums to exist.
These include Live @ 107 (2010) and the Live Arts Session Vol:2 DVD (2012). These two compilations were the first of their kind on the urban poetry/hip hop/comedy and theatre. They represent the nature of KPN’s live arts sessions as pioneered by Tshabalala. The Poetry Overload versus Sketching Hard DVD (2017) is a third instalment.
He is also the founder of Poetry Overload and TEWOP (The Elite Wing of Poetry) Slam, an initiative that calls for excellence in all spheres of poetry. The former originates from a premise that recognises that the next transition, from scene or circle, is industry.
A Kiri Pink Nob flagship is Sketching Hard, a township-burlesque comedy format.
Tshabalala also has extensive experience as a voice artist and performance coach.
With a keen interest in a migration from the live medium to digital, Tshabalala looks set to be the pioneer who will create the bridge between content in the theatre and content in the comfort of homes.
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