Thembela Madliki is an award-winning theatre-maker and educator from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Her production, Bayephi (2017), won the National Arts Festival’s Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award. She is also one of the 2018 recipients of the Theatre Arts Emerging Directors Bursary. Madliki holds a Master of Arts degree in Directing for Stage from Rhodes University. She has directed a number of works both as a student and professionally namely; Nyanga (2016), Where She Walked (2018-2019), Galela (2018), (Not) A Place of War (2022), and Phinda Ubuyele (2022). She has trained as an intimacy professional and works as an Intimacy Coordinator under SafeSets.
Photography & Videography: Evaan Jason Ferreira
Poster Design: Evaan Jason Ferreira
Phinda Ubuyele debuted at the 2022 National Arts Festival Fringe Programme. The production is a two-hander that follows the story of siblings who have returned to their childhood home in the aftermath of their parents’ death. The two siblings are engaged in recounting their childhood experiences to draw a deeper understanding of who they are in adulthood. They spent their childhood under the surveillance of an abusive father and an ailing mother. In their adulthood, they are each other’s refuge as they begin to remember the events of their past to uncover the
hidden narratives of their own lives.
Performed: Rhodes University, Grahamstown (2022)
Poster By: Evaan Jason Ferreira
(Not) A Place of War is a devised theatrical production created in collaboration with a cast of vibrant Rhodes University drama students. The work borrows text and imagery from Mia Couto’s novel Sleepwalking Land to tell the story of a war-ravaged Africa. The story is told through the perspective of a young refugee girl whose enthusiasm for storytelling allows her the opportunity to escape from her harsh reality.hidden narratives of their own lives.
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