Forget everything you loved about Jo-Anne Reyneke when she debuted as Muvhango’s receptionist, Pearl. Rhythm City’s writers at e.tv are unleashing an anally-retentive and unintentionally funny Reyneke as Prudence, the new administrator and bookkeeper at Redemption Records. Debashine Thangevelo found out how the new mom feels about being back in the saddle.
AT the beginning of last year, Jo-Anne Reyneke left SABC2’s Muvhango – a show that made her a household name, to some extent.
That renown increased when she started dating Generations actor Thami Mngqolo, who, funnily enough, plays Senzo, a gay man, in SABC1’s leading soap.They are now married and the parents of a five-month-old girl.
On her Muvhango exit, Reyneke explains: “They called me in to tell me they weren’t renewing my contract. They hadn’t found out about the baby at the time.”
The actress doesn’t have any sour grapes about the decision. She says “the timing was perfect”. And a bit later – and while six months pregnant – she bagged a role in the hit home-grown series, Intersexions.
Now she will make her debut on Rhythm City, a show she’s been eyeing since her Muvhango days.
She explains: “It was the weirdest thing, actually. I’ve been talking about Rhythm City since before I left Muvhango. I spoke so much about it, it feels like I almost willed it on. It was also my first audition after I had told my agent I was ready to act again. So I’m very, very lucky.”
Cast as Prudence, a replacement for Rhonda, as the new bookkeeper and administrator at Redemption Records, Reyneke says: “She is completely different to Pearl – a complete contradiction. For starters, she isn’t nice. She is a bit anal about everything; quite prissy. And she looks down on people.”
The actress says what she appreciated most about the Rhythm City character is that she is given range with her personality: “Pearl had no fashion sense. This one (Prudence) is into pinstriped suits, is very neat and groomed. She doesn’t take two hours – she is very organised. I love her.”
Prudence’s frigidity opens the way for others to make her the butt of jokes and, in so doing, she is unintentionally funny.
“I really appreciate that,” Reyneke shares. “One of my stronger points has always been comedy. With this character, I didn’t have to try too hard. The comedy comes from how seriously she takes herself. People are laughing behind her back and saying, ‘sjoe, this girl needs a boyfriend’.”
As for returning to work and leaving her baby at home, Reyneke says she has the best support structure and loves being a mother: “It is quite natural and very easy. I know you don’t hear that often. But I don’t feel alone or overwhelmed.”
Back to the soap and working alongside veteran Peter SePuma (Miles Vilakazi), she says: “He is so sweet. In fact, I was quite surprised by how sweet everyone is at Rhythm City. You want to pinch yourself because you can’t believe it’s true. Everyone wanted me to do as well as I wanted to do. With him being a veteran, I took a lot of advice. I hope he enjoyed working with me as much as I have with him.”
Although her character’s fate rests with how well she is received by viewers, Reyneke says she is only too happy to become a more permanent fixture on the show.
When asked if she is prepared for the disbelief of some of her fans, she laughs: “At the beginning it might be a tad of a shock. A lot of them don’t want to let go of Pearl. They fell in love with her. And because of the way I play Prudence, it is going to be hard to hate her completely. She likes to think she is the biggest villain around, but she is just one of those types whose bark is worse than their bite.”
While nothing is set in stone, Reyneke is determined to be more of a force on the entertainment scene. “I’m done with breaks,” she says. “My pregnancy was a long break. I want to work a lot. I want to do a lot of theatre and be on the screen more again.”
You go, girl!
• Rhythm City airs on e.tv on weekdays at 6.30pm.