An episode of LadiMash productions, 2LATE, was one of the scintillating theatre acts at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
In the face of conspicuous absence of theatre infrastructure in Limpopo, a local production house is determined to break the glass ceiling by producing top-notch entertaining inventions.
LadiMash Productions is one of the few artistic brands that are currently breaking this barrier, regardless of lack of facilities and funding from private companies and government recognition.
Established by Mashupe Phala as an independent production company with the aim of commercialising the arts, especially theatre, LadiMash is currently entrenching itself in the entertainment world, and its performers have systematically become class acts.
Over the years the company has produced shows such as Makarapa, My Love My Sin, Born In Vain and Motlhako, who have been exhibited at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
LadiMash’s flagship invention thus far has been 2LATE, a play that was written and directed by Phala, who is the company’s artistic manager.
2LATE, in a nutshell, is a story of a 16-year-old girl called Beauty, who was raised by a single parent. The wayward teenager from an ordinary South African family met an older man, Thabo and they became instant lovers. Thabo takes Beauty to all sorts of social rendezvous and exclusive venues. The sugar dady continued to spoil her rotten as he gave her this life that her mother could not afford. Beauty rapidly becomes a rebellious teenager driven crazy by adolescence and her misdemeanour became the root cause of her mother heartache. As Beauty continues to attend high profile functions with Thabo, she persistently bunks and her performance at school swiftly took a nosedive. Despite the words of reason and advises from her mother and friends, Beauty does not listen, leaving her mother with sleepless nights. When finally the mother reaches a point whereby she can’t take it anymore and decide to be hard on her, she discovered that she is pregnant with Thabo’s baby.
Beauty decides to leave her home for good to go and stay with Thabo. It is then that she discovers that Thabo is not the clean messiah he has been pretending to be and all hell breaks loose as the truth comes out and Beauty is left with regrets. This is a story that depicts the lives of true South African family in a real life manner that will captivate the audience
Phala says “The company has an aim of doing away with funder dependency within the arts sector by encouraging production of top-notch, cutting edge productions that will compel the audience to buy tickets and come to the theatre.”
Phala is among the disgruntled artists in the province who say the provincial administration has turned a blind eye on them.