MELANIE Kisten is bringing things home in her latest production Big Amma’s House, set to stage at Sibaya Casino’s iZulu Theatre soon.
“Big Amma’s House a family comedy dance musical with lots of laughter and tears set to create awareness of how important family is,” said Kisten.
“With the fast pace of our lives, it can become very easy to forget our parents, the sacrifices they made for us and how important family unity is. But in most cases, money matters and greed for wealth can tear the family apart. Family is forever, but it must also be a healthy relationship as well,” she added.
Kisten said the show will use comedy and entertainment to drive the message home that it is not always about money but the precious time you give, especially to our parents. “Love, time and care is what any parent needs – that is the greatest wealth to them in their old age. More than money can buy.”
Kisten (an export controller for a shipping company) is also the choreographer for the Melanie Kisten Dance Academy and an actress who made her film debut in Keeping up with the Kandsamys, in the role of Prissy (popularly known as the crab aunty due to a funny scene where she eats crab curry).
She said that the cast comprised a team of friends who had worked around the clock to put the family comedy-drama together.
The production features Lyle D Chellan (professional singer & DJ from Pietermaritzburg); Krishna Subrayen and Elaine Govender from (Merebank); Mayeshni Parusaram, Kubeshan Naidoo, Bhavanie Kisten, Narusha Chetty (Chatsworth) and Thiru Reddy (Malvern).
“The lead characters are Big Amma, played by myself, and Biggs, played by Lyle D Chellan. We play the roles of the parents. Most of our productions are based on reality, and so is Big Amma’s House,” said Kisten.
“This play was inspired by a lovely 70-year-old lady I met at an old age home where I was doing some voluntary work.
“I sat with her, and she was narrating a story to me about how much she did for her children, but now that she needed them, they had left her in the old age home and only visited her during Christmas and New Year.
“This brought tears to my eyes. It made me think that sometimes we do things in haste because our lives are so fast-paced and busy and we unknowingly hurt our parents.”
She said sometimes we take our parents for granted, but we regret it once they have departed.
“The reality of one’s busy life is that there is no time to spend with parents. We buy them a gift now and again and think we have done our share.
“Money has now become the centre of everyone’s life. It’s true, we all need money, but we forget our priorities while trying to reach for
the sky.
“Many are guilty of neglecting their parents who put them through their studies and helped them reach the heights of success.
“I scripted this play in the hope that we all realise that our parents are the most precious gift from God.
“And just like how we all will one day be parents, how we treat our parents, will be how our kids will treat us.
“So we need to lead by example.”
Kisten added the production also touched a bit on how lies could also break up good relationships and tear loved ones apart, and showed how society easily believed lies and gossip about people, which caused unnecessary conflicts.
“But with all that said, the question is: can Bigg Amma beat all odds and keep her family together?” she teased.
*Catch Big Amma’s House from October 4-6, at iZulu Theatre, Sibaya Casino. Tickets are available from R130 via Computicket or call 083 235 1207 for further information.