After two-and-a-half years with Scandal as RT’s sexy and cheeky bar manager Keketso Khoza, Gontse Ntshegang, 28, was told her character was being written out of the storyline.
“They told me they didn’t have any stories for me. Although they didn’t kill the character,” the actress shrugs.
Given her lame exit where Keketso found herself at the mercy of Donna, who didn’t take too kindly to a “stupid cartoon” she did of the hard-nosed businesswoman, it would probably have been kinder to simply kill the character.
Ntshegang nods: “Of course, it was a terrible ending. I think the character was tired. They weren’t growing her. Even her spunky attitude changed because of Palesa’s more conservative mannerisms. Basically, Keketso started losing her je ne sais quoi. The stories with Mangi always worked, but they needed a girlfriend situation. Eventually, she became a barmaid who was just in someone else’s story.”
After leaving Scandal at the end of March last year (her character was on screen until June), she was cast as Mpumi in the play Loving Lulu, which was directed by Yolandi Michaels at the Market Theatre.
And then she auditioned for the role of Elizabeth in Rhythm City. The character was brought in to support Naomi’s (Moshidi Motshegwa) comeback as she attempted to win over Miles by pretending that Elizabeth’s baby was hers.
Having mostly done English and Irish plays at school, it was a stage production called Mampatile, written and directed by Wa Mamatu, that helped her tap into the emotions of her timid and submissive role.
“I had never done black theatre before that. When I started that in my first year at Wits, I started catching more community theatre,” she says.
Ntshegang continues: “And I have a child so I know how emotional it can be for a mother to have her child taken from her. Elizabeth is educated and has a bit of life experience. At the core is her relationship with her daughter. I believe everybody has an attitude – even the quietest of people. And that is what I tried to bring out in my performance, especially those scenes where she and Naomi disagree. Because of that there are now repercussions.”
From working to acting with stalwarts such as Sello Maake kaNcube and Nthathi Moshesh in Scandal to now sharing the limelight with Motshegwa, who won a Safta earlier this year for Best Lead Actress in a Soap, she praises: “She (Motshegwa) is fantastic, funny and amazing. She goes crazy mad (slipping into the skin of her character) on set and inspires me as well.”
In between shooting her scenes for Rhythm City, Ntshegang spent a month in Cape Town shooting for a made-for-TV German movie called Ambassador 2.
“I played the Deputy Director of Commerce and Industry in Zambia. That was so fantastic an experience.”
Although Elizabeth has a short lifespan, Ntshegang is hopeful of bagging more work in soaps.
“I would love to pop in and out of soapie land,” she laughs. “I would love to do that and films – but playing completely different characters. Eventually, I want to direct. I got my honours in dramatic arts and know about set design, African cinema… and I have written a few projects that haven’t been actioned yet. In between, I have my own production company, White Laugh, where I’m trying to promote international relations via a performing arts exchange programme.”
lRhythm City airs on e.tv at 6.30pm weekdays.