Show Archive

Daar is twee wolwe binne elke mense. Een is goed en vol liefde, die ander een is donker en vol wantroue. Watter een oorheers jou? Die een wat jou voed’. Van Wyk en Elaine is nog nie lank getroud nie, maar daar heers is `n ewil in hul huwelik. Hul aksies van die verlede maak vir Van Wyk verbittered en

Lear's Fool is a solo, written for a single fool, based on the tragedy written by William Shakespeare. One of the last of the royal fools, Earless the Fearless, is fool to the elderly King Lear. He regales the audience with the tale of how the King decides to give up his power and divide his realm amongst his three

Offering you a glittering array of seasoned professionals, as well as upcoming starlettes, Black Orchid Burlesque invites you to travel back to a time filled with glamour, sophistication and old-world charm. Featuring timeless one-of-a-kind performances that focuses on the subtlety of a woman’s seduction fused with brazen abandon. Using vintage inspired music for these whimsical performances, our five beautiful burlesquers

"Love knows no limits. Capetown's award winning improv company ImproGuise teams up with international improv legends Nadine Antler (Germany) and Shawn Kinsley (Canada) to bring you a juicy, Improvised  Valentine's show. For 2 nights only you will be wooed by some of the world's most accomplished Improvisers, through scenes, poetry and song. Two entertaining, fully improvised roller-coaster rides of love's

What's in a name? For Angel it's a punchline.The sneak peek preview of Angel Campey's first ever one woman comedy show. Directed by Nik Rabinowitz and produced by Siv Ngesi. Yes, Really Angel will be debuting at Grahamstown Fringe Festival this year.Come and witness the comedian that Nik has dubbed "One of the sharpest young comedic minds in this country,

Toast Coetzer (vocals, lyrics) and Stephen Timm (kaossilator) are members of Cape Town’s spoken-word improv band The Buckfever Underground. In this show they explore slightly different sonic territory than with their full band. The show will feature all-new lyrics, facial hair and jittery movements. “Music for the beau­ti­ful ones not yet born, a gen­er­a­tion that comes after the fact”, Rolling

South Africa, like most of the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union, embraced “The Customer is King” capitalism in the earlier 1990s, following Adam Smith’s crap idea that satisfying the consumer is sole point of production. 21 years later we still have over 30% unemployment and massive inequality. Bradley will give a fascinating tour through the history of

The book launch of David Brokensha's book Guy's Story about his brother, a young man from Durban who joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1937 and became an ace fighter pilot in World War II. One morning in Auguust 1942, the unthinkable happened: Guy did not report for duty. His mysterious - and unsolved - disappearance from an aircraft carrier

New York Innovative Theater Award-winning solo artist Andrea Caban returns to Cape Town for two performances of Questions My Mother Can’t Answer. That the one person we expected to know everything, to fix everything and to be everything is not a mythic superbeing becomes clearer and clearer throughout our lifetime. Caban deals with this truth and her own personal journey

This fabulous evening of divinely decadent Burlesque theater will feature some of the most talented( and gorgeous!) Artistes Cape Town has to offer. Over the past 5 years that Burlesque has been in South Africa, Black Orchid has been lucky to train and perform with many gorgeous gals over the years. While the industry is finally booming, not many folks

Photojournalist Sam Reinders has flown in Air Force One, lost an epic battle with a penguin, played pool on a dune in the Gobi and met a collection of interesting people from survivors to sadhus to sociopaths. Join her for a poke through her archive and meet some of the characters from the last 13 years. Sam has worked for

Meet Bryan Miles - a master of the wicked manipulation of the mind and a performer who is trained in the art of thought deception. Bryan has performed across the globe, from London to Los Angeles, for movie stars and celebrities. His ground-breaking primetime SABC TV series, ‘One Day with Bryan Miles’ has had South Africans across the country questioning

A shimmering ode to aging without getting old. John Cartwright's poetry and choreography is part Butoh-inspired, part broken thermometer, part free dance and part nails on a blackboard. Featuring Jeremy de Tolly's SABC recordings of his Piano Nocturnes and Professor John Cartwright's original poetry and choreography - with design and direction by Penelope Youngleson. 

Fantastical storytelling is at its most potent when it's anchored to reality. Lauren Beukes talks about why she writes strange and twisty fiction from novels to comics to TV shows and how storytelling that re-imagines where we are has the ability to tell us more about who we are.

KFCC is Gaëtan Schmid’s compacted corporate comedy version of his National Arts Festival sold out show Body Language."... physically and cerebrally delightful ..."Sunday TimesKFCC is a skil­fully con­trolled high-octane burst of behav­ioural sci­ence and psycho-biological anthro­pol­ogy, tai­lored to explore, expose and evis­cer­ate the com­plex­i­ties of body lan­guage and non-verbal com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the work­place. The show is a hilarious break for

A side-splitting musical comedy about a confused, ditsy woman who mopes around, depressed about all her failed marriages. Her Mother offers to send her on a world trip to go and find 'Mr. Right'. Instead, she goes to see her 'guru' and discovered that she loves to cook. What follows is an hilarious "RECIPE FOR DISASTER' where she accidentally gets

Take every mixed tape, heartbreak, high school crush, first love, crazy-in-the-moment decision, stupid mistake and whirlwind fling you know, mush it with a bit of country, folk and pop. Add a sweet voice, a bit of acoustic guitar and some beats. Stick in the record player and press play. The result? Singer/songwriter Lexi Frame and her set of Girly Pop

Shnit Worldwide Shorfilmfestival presents an explosive Short Film Experience like no other. In its ninth year in South Africa, we return to The Labia Theatre, Pulp Cinema in Stellenbosch, Alexander Bar and Bertha Movie House in Khayelitsha, with special screenings at the Zeitz MOCAA. 

During the month of love, Lingua Franca will bring to you a special Valentines Day production. In music and poetry, we bear witness to love, its revelations and contradictions. "Indumiso Zothando" celebrates the divinity of love, unpacks its difficulties and attempts to put to words the profoundly indescribable.

An interlingual cabaret show about longing and belonging performed by Aletia Upstairs and Sigrun Paschke. Although Aletia lives in London and Sigrun in Berlin, they have performed their multi-lingual, jazz, cabaret, world and original music in all three cities. Their journeys, which occasionally collide, are illustrated in their songs. This show is a discovery of their worlds, their journeys, their intertwined

Festival favourite and comedy legend Rob van Vuuren returns with a brand new comedy show directed by Alan Committie. Multi award winning comedian Van Vuuren combines stand-up, clowning, sketch, dance and character comedy in this ambitious new project. Not to be missed!

A writer wants to write a play. But what is the point? It will never be Shakespeare. Fabulous Nothing is a ridiculous bittersweet romp through the vast empty brain of a writer struggling to write, as she grapples with the fickle thoughts inside her own head.Help to get this fabulous new script to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown! Fabulous

The GREAT S.A. Burlesque Express RETURNS in January 2017 for a little sexy soiree at Alexander Upstairs to get you swinging into the new year with a smile on your faces, hosted by the one-and-only notorious DD Boobs (Diva Disastar)!Join this bawdy Dame of Burlesque as she introduces you to the newest performers in Cape Town, and showcases the top

Eureka Nkese is one of the brightest rising stars in South African comedy today. Man’s 2 Funny is his third comedy special to tour around the country and will show at Alexander Bar for two nights only. It's a special opportunity to appreciate a stand-up comedy show that delivers hilarious punchlines and an insighful view of South African culture.Man’s 2

Alexander Bar and Café Upstairs Theatre will host Blare – a one-hander dancing poem devised and performed by playwright, director, actor and choreographer Mpapa Simo Majola. This show pays homage to the feminine and the ancestors. It is the narrative of a man carrying stories and songs of women who died trying to find a prayer to a mother God.

Jamie Jupiter spins magic with his original lyrics, assortment of instruments and his loop pedal which allows him to record sounds on sight and play it back to a live audience. From folk to funk, afro-groove to reggae, Jamie does it all.Living in Cape Town Jamie is a member of local blues sensation Mother City Mojo.He's toured the UK, USA

Cape Town’s oldest and most favourite improv troupe, ImproGuise, will be ending their year of pop up performances at the Alexander Bar with Tribute, a new format that is fast becoming an audience favourite because of its high energy, musical improv and hilarious characters and songs.How it works is, the improvisers create a totally made up documentary depicting the lives

Opaque is a performance piece that melds spoken word and music. Centered around the stigmatised arena of mental health, Opaque is both intensely vulnerable and delicately uplifting. December will see the last performances of Opaque before it takes on East Africa and London, UK in 2019, in partnership with the ZHTS. Opaque uses both music and spoken word, to bring to

Not to be missed! A rare performance of explorative soundscapes and new ambient music by Maxim Starcke (electronics, electric guitar, sax, sound design) and featuring Brydon Bolton (double bass, electronics) and Frank Mallows (vibraphone, cymbals, percussion). Starcke's composition 'Cape Dimensions' is a 20 minute immersive piece which will be re-visioned live by the trio. 'Cape Dimensions', originally performed at the Unyazi

So after touring up in Gauteng Joy Smith is ending the launch tour of her album "Next"  here in Cape Town. This show will be magical with life size owls and readings and other great performers such as Nuka and Thomas Krane.Joy will have the new album "Next" - all of them with a original, signed art work in them,

Meet Bryan Miles - a master of the wicked manipulation of the mind and a performer who is trained in the art of thought deception. Bryan has performed across the globe, from London to Los Angeles, for movie stars and celebrities. His ground-breaking primetime SABC TV series, ‘One Day with Bryan Miles’ has had South Africans across the country questioning

Chantal creates musical moments in which worlds unfold and characters evolve, telling stories about being human.  Chantal’s pianistic style could be likened to Tori Amos; her lyricism evokes Suzanne Vega; and her voice similar to that of Amy Lee from Evanescence. The flavour, however, is all Chantal…a solo act, a woman, singer, writer and pianist, walking her own path; musically

Join violinist extraordinaire, Hezron Chetty and vocalist Jules Terea as they join forces for one night only in an act of collaboration and storytelling. This set will see these two musicians at the rawest form, stripped down and acoustic. Exploring a wide range of material the two artists have written throughout their careers as they tell the story of "Duende" an

Lance Herman - Singer & Songwriter from Cape Town - currently playlisted on 5FM for his first single Rollercoaster - teams up with drummer Jonno Sweetman to bring a 1 hr set of original music. Following on from the previous two sold out performances at the Alexander Bar Upstairs Theatre, this duo sees Lance's inimitable style of songwriting open up

Marco Selvaggio from Italy will perform with his hang - the rarest instrument in the world - for a special night of magic music.Marco Selvaggio is an artist that has been playing all around the world for 10 years touring with his hangs. He has released 2 albums: "The Eternal Dreamer" (Waterbirds Records) and Aether (T-Lab Revolution) and 5 EPs. 

Vocalist/Songwriter Nicky Schrire and Berlin-based jazz guitarist James Scholfield team up to present an intimate duo evening of jazz standards and folk songs at the Alexander Bar.

An evening of anecdotes, images and videos from travel photographer Eric Nathan's travels through 86 countries over the last two decades. Part of the talk will be dedicated to Eric's time-lapse photography and there will be a Q&A session at the end. A small selection of Eric's work will be on exhibit and available for purchase.

The shnit Worldwide Shortfilmfestival is a non-profit organisation based in 8 cities around the world.The annual festival takes place every October over five days (18-22 October 2017). The festival delivers a high quality programme of new and established International and South African short films.

Join Peter Ngqibs as he takes you on a journey for his personal freedom and his self discovery through an eclectic mix of pop, dance and R'nB.South African born, USA-bred Xhosa singer, songwriter, composer and organist Peter Ngqibs recently released his official full-length album, Let Me Go – a piece of work that has been long in the making. The

Presented by Kristen Koning, WomanSong is a celebration of music by female artists. Kristen Koning, Sky Dladla and Thandeka Mfinyongo will take you on an unforgettable journey of joy, sorrow, defeat and victory through music. 

Swaziland musician Sibusiso Nkambule & Cape Tonian, Shamie will be bringing down the house with deep, intimate African tunes. Two different cultures and countries meet for an African Intimacy Session filled with music , motivation & inspiration.

Join us for an evening of classy debauchery at your favourite urban oasis. After their theatre show,  cabaret artists Dani & The Lion will move downstairs for a special set of jazzed up 2016 hits and old favourites to see us to midnight. Thereafter a downstairs DJ will keep us bopping into the wee hours as we enjoy the lively

Inspired by the likes of Damien Rice, Jacques Brel and Bright Eyes, Brynn plays a poetic blend of folk and alternative rock with an honesty and passion that is rare to witness. Gathering a positive following through their performances at varieties of venues and festivals around Cape Town (such as the Cape Town Fringe Festival, Octopus' Garden and Obviouzly Armchair)

Have a jazz experience on par with London and NYC. For the first time in South Africa, celebrated Kora player Tunde Jegede presents one night only of jazz with South African Jazz Musicians Lionel Beukes, Buddy Wells, Fancy Galada and Frank Paco at Harringtons Cocktail Lounge in the East City. NB: This is an external event and takes place at

The Mr Cat & The Jackal Trio Show consists of the two songwriters of MCATJ Gert Besselsen and Jacques du Plessis joined by percussionist Pierre Arnold Theron. The show takes you deeper to the core of their music, sculpted to accentuate all the subtle nuances. They play most of the old favorites like Wheres My Shoes and The Devil Always

YOU, the audience brings a 'THING'.*Any 'THING', from the mundane to the unmentionable.Place the 'THING' ** in the cardboard box on stage.Take your seat and let Oskar Brown transport you into his world of stand-up storytelling.“He is gifted in his abil­ity to craft imagery with word and a pretty charm­ing and engaging way of going about it.”(Broad­way World Magazine)*Every 'THING'

Chris Lynam has worked as an uncategorisable solo clown/comedian for over forty years, which has earned him a reputation for unpredictable hilarity and mayhem.With his raw physicality, an exquisite grasp of the grotesque and a seemingly endless supply of explosive tricks, he has been feverishly subverting the tradition of alternative comedy, shattering our cosy pre-conceptions with his extraordinary off the

The extraordinary sound of the trio originates from the fact that uncommon instruments like bass clarinet and soprano saxophone, drums and other clingling as well as hammond organ, fender rhodes and piano are combined and played in its very own style to create an unheard experience for the listener.”They’re singing your praises while stealing your phrases.“ – Charles MingusTheir debut