Featured Artists
South Africa’s top Actors, Singers, Dancers and Voice Over Artists
PINOCCHIO - PANTOMIME
This year’s pantomime is packed with laughter, heart, and holiday joy for the whole family.
Join Pinocchio, the little puppet with a big dream, as he journeys through wild adventures—featuring circus magic, puppet shows, pirate ships, techno-trains, and a lively cast of unforgettable characters.
Gina Shmukler plays the part of Bella Bouboulina, the Blue Fairy of Goodness. She is sassy and fair. She loves a bit of fun and naughtiness while going about her business, making magic and ensuring Pinocchio learns his life lessons in order to become a boy.
Pinocchio opens at the Joburg Theatre on the 29th of October and runs till 24 December.
UNDER THE SHADE OF A TREE I SAT AND WEPT
Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept is a powerful new play exploring forgiveness as a path to healing. Drawing on Kosovo’s 1990 Blood Feuds Reconciliation Campaign and South Africa’s 1995 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it reflects on how communities confronted cycles of violence and sought to rebuild trust. Through archival material and new testimonies, artists from Europe and Africa ask urgent questions about truth, memory, and reconciliation in today’s divided world. Written by Jeton Neziraj and directed by Blerta Neziraj, the production combines history with bold theatrical imagination.
Gontse Ntshegang and Kensiwe Tsabalala are both part of the ensemble who performs as one powerful voice, weaving testimony, memory, and movement into a collective act of storytelling. Their unity on stage mirrors the play’s theme of reconciliation, creating a performance that is both deeply moving and profoundly human.
After its world premiere in Kosovo, at the Gjilan City Theatre, “Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept” will be presented in the Kosovo/North Macedonia Theatre Show, which will take place between October 28 and November 1, as part of the Balkan tour. It will embark on a European tour in April 2026, in South Africa in June 2026 and will be performed in New York in March 2027.
BINNELANDERS
The stories revolve around the lives of a dedicated group of professionals at the clinic who are committed to healing their patients’ sufferings.
Gustav Gerdener can be seen as Johan Matthys, a brilliant general surgeon who has run a successful practice in Cape Town for the past few years. But behind his professional façade lies a darker side — one fuelled by years of anger and pain stemming from what At Koster did to his family. This suppressed rage drives Johan to stir up chaos at Binneland.
However, Johan is not merely a man obsessed with revenge. There is also a more human, even charming, side to him that occasionally comes to the surface. His past is complex — including a romantic relationship with one of his fellow doctors at Binneland. Will his love and romantic past ultimately win out and save him from his own dark intentions, or will his obsession with revenge destroy everything in his path?
Binnelanders is on Kyknet channel 144 on Dstv every weekday at 19:30