Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness opens at The Fugard Theatre on August 19. Mark Fleishman and Neo Muyanga have begun rehearsals, putting the cast through their paces. In 2013, a workshop of this production was staged, which was reviewed by Barry Smith for the International Opera magazine. He said: “Another imaginative experiment was the collaboration between Cape Town Opera and young trainees of the MAGNET THEATRE, an acting company from the townships specialising in innovative, politically-conscious productions.

“Under the direction of Mark Fleishman, with the composer Neo Muyanga as musical director, movement direction by Jennie Reznek and design by Craig Leo, we were treated to the first part of a musical version of Zakes Mda’s novel Heart of Redness.

“During a notorious episode from the mid-19th century a teenage prophetess, Nongqawuse, commanded the Xhosa people to kill their cattle and burn their crops, promising that if they did so the spirits of their ancestors would rise and drive the occupying English into the sea. The Xhosa nation might well have been wiped out but for the fact that some of the people rejected these prophecies and did not heed her orders.

At the time this caused a great rift among the nation; 150 years later we find their descendants again at loggerheads, this time over plans to build a vast casino and tourist resort near their village. The music is an eclectic mix, producing a fascinating mêlée of exuberant African rhythms and popular styles.”

The 2015 production of Heart of Redness is a fully-realised theatrical production, featuring a six-member orchestral ensemble, with the Magnet Theatre actors cast alongside Cape Town Opera soloists and choral singers.

Bookings have opened and ticket prices range from R100 to R190. Book at Computicket.