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. These women now live and speak through Blare as they are still trying to find a prayer to Shesus. Majola collaborated with Sanelisiwe Yekani, Mpolokeng Chabane, Isah Ngalo in the writing of Blare.

Majola is based in Johannesburg but performs regularly in Cape Town. He brought Blare to Magnet Theatre in March 2017 and Theatre Arts Admin Collective in May 2017. The Funeral which played at the Alexander Bar in 2014 was well received and made top ten visiting plays.

This multi talented artist lives out his vision in various iterations. He is a freelance practitioner whose collaborations include work with various production companies, playwrights, humanitarian organisations, community groups, filmmakers and musicians. Majola has written for organisations such as Ox Farm GB, South African History Online and Goethe Institute amongst others. Collaborators include Jefferson Tshabalala, Billy Langa, Omphile Molusi, Phala O. Phala and many more.

Majola is a co-founding member of Playriot - a group of eleven writers who were selected nationally to be part of a writing residency at the Royal Court Theatre in 2013.  Productions that have emerged from this group of writers are I See You, the award winning play by Mongiwekhaya and New Foundland by Neil Coppen. Majola's work entitled The Last MK Fighter, written under this residency will be moving into production shortly. Playriot has a threefold mission. Firstly to be a writers’ theatre – giving playwrights the time and space to be activists and write urgent works. An organisation that promotes contemporary stories and thirdly a collective that creates a culture of readings. 

This show speaks to a deep understanding of the feminine. People need to watch Blare because it moves beyond generic gender debates and celebrates the feminine, supported and enhanced by the masculine but it in a way that honours women. Right now, this country is working through the murders of young women and children. Blare teaches us a way to move in the world. A way to listen. A way to respond without inflicting pain. Both women and men across all cultures can learn this beautiful dancing poem.

Media & Reviews

Audience Responses

A completely mesmerising performance by Simo, depicting a personal broken-jigsaw of ideas, emotions and beliefs. An African Everyman, trying to make sense of his world. Exhausting and captivating to watch.