Durban - A musical about the life of King Shaka Zulu’s mother Nandi is to be launched at the Durban Playhouse on Thursday, and after a provincial and national tour, is set to go on an international tour.
Play director Edmund Mhlongo said while researching for the musical, he found that there was a lot of interest in such a musical in the US.
While doing work on Madam President, a play which focuses on the great women of Africa, he came across Queen Nandi’s name on numerous occasions. But there was little information about her, except that she was King Shaka Zulu’s mother.
“And that was when I realised that more research needed to be done around Nandi’s life.
“I found that she’s listed as one of the top 10 queens in Africa and one of the top 100 queens in the world.
“This inspired me to find out that she is regarded as a woman of high esteem.”
He said Nandi was one of the first known single mothers in South African history, something often overlooked by South Africans.
“Here we have a woman who was a princess of the Mhlongo clan who was rejected by her people for falling pregnant out of wedlock and she was also then rejected by the man who impregnated her. But she never gave up. She also never gave up on her children with one of them, Shaka, becoming king of a nation.”
He said it was because of Nandi’s motivation that Shaka became who he was and that she taught her children to look past the pain of being rejected and to stay positive.
“In my research I was surprised to find in the US many parents name their children Nandi, and when I asked them if they know who Nandi was, they said she was a great African queen who was a single parent. Americans know more about Nandi than some South Africans.”
Mhlongo said that Nandi was a woman who endured a lot of suffering and was insulted by some people, but through all of this she
succeeded in raising her
children.
“It was Shaka who honoured her by making her queen, doing for Nandi what his father failed to do. For me this was a beautiful story that had to be told, one that would inspire young girls,” he said.
Mhlongo said casting actors for the musical was a three-month process, which began in January, because he wanted to make sure that the production was also a platform for the discovery of new talent.
“Through the auditions, I discovered the acting ability of poet Ntokozo Ngcobo who plays Queen Nandi.” He explained that the musical story structure is in two parts for the character of Nandi with Ngcobo playing the part of young Nandi and Gcina Mhlophe narrating her story as an elderly Nandi to a grandchild.
“Initially I wanted my wife Brenda, who is an actor on the soapie, Generations: The Legacy, to play the elderly Nandi, but they couldn’t release her.
“Then I went with my plan B which was getting Gcina Mhlophe. “However, since she is busy and travels a lot, we decided to record her narrating the story and that is what people will hear during the musical,” Mhlongo said.
He added that he chose to present the play as a musical because adding music to the story line can cover a lot in a short space of time, especially with a production that is two hours long.
“With a musical, a song can be an entire scene. And since the musical is targeted at educating young people about Nandi, I thought music would be the best medium to communicate the story to the young.”
The play will be staged from July 5 to 8 at 7pm at the Durban Playhouse. Tickets at Computicket.