POPArt celebrates Women's Month

"Each year, we seek out women who are excelling in the field of live performance for our Women's Month programme. As a female-owned business, we feel that it is important to use the month in which we celebrate Women's Day to give a shout out to our female collaborators who are making waves in the industry," said POPArt artistic director Hayleigh Evans. "We are particularly proud of our 2015 Women's Month programme as we have managed to lock down award-winning shows, many of which set off on tour to international festivals after the run at POPArt."

The programme includes Joburg premiers of shows, as well as big audience hits from this year's National Arts Festival. Each show on the bill explores themes from family, sex and social norms to politics, in a variety of mediums including physical performance, sketch comedy, theatre and Kamishibai storytelling.

"Audiences of both genders should be thoroughly entertained and challenged by the work of these fantastic women," Evans added.

POPArt will also be collaborating with performers, visual artists and sports women for another special event for Women's Day at Constitution Hill. The event, Pumped Up, will take place on 8 August from 12pm to 4pm at the landmark venue and will see the combination of female talent and strength showcased in this day event. Female boxers from the Hillbrow Boxing Gym will fight bouts in the ring, while dancers from Moving into Dance will respond to this action with their own moves and mediums. This event is free and open to the public.

The programme:

* Nomzamo: 6 to 9 August. Performed by: Tsholofelo Pouline Mmbi, Neliseka Maling and Thobeka Malinga. Written and Directed by Gcebile Dlamini. Nomzamo follows the story of a young women who is uprooted from her home to live with her grandmother in a village in Swaziland following her parents divorce. But family traditions have changed since her last visit, and where once children played in harmony a new tradition of repeated rape, and silence exists. The journey of silence prompted by norms, shame and disappointments has prevented women from exercising their voices. The secret are kept within our immediate surrounding and disconnects trust within ourselves. Stirring performances under the guidance of writer/ director Gcebile Dlamini make this a powerful and unmissable piece of theatre.

* Piet se Optelgoed: 13 to 16 August. Directed by Rob Murray. Written by Liezl de Kock.
Featured artists: Liezl de Kock, Lexi Meier. Piet se Optelgoed is a dark-and-brooding nightmare peppered with unexpected humour, heartbreaking vulnerability and poignant humanity, told in the breathtaking visual style audiences have come to expect from Liezl de Kock. Gleefully deranged and a fringe dweller, Piet is at once a myth and a horror story told to children when they don't behave. Like a twisted pied piper, her lullaby calls weggooi-kinders from their beds to her kitchen; her hunger is insatiable. Piet se Optelgoed trawls the dark underbelly of society and the power and powerlessness of women in a warped comic broth of visual buffoonery.

* Thenx Ladies present The Triple M Mammmas: 19 to 23 August. Starring Kitty Moepang, Tumy Motsoatsoe, MoMo Matsunyane, and Zethu Dlomo. The Triple M Mammmas! is a sketch show presented by the Thenx Ladies. In the show, the 'mammmas', who are the founders of a local stokvel that caters at mekete, manyalo le mafu, give you a taste of their world acclaimed dish: Nnete! Inspired by comedy gems like The Pure Monate Show, Late Night News with Loyiso Gola and The Catherine Tate Show, this show uses satire and parody to capture the nuances of everyday life in a comical way. Truth, has never tasted so real!! Do not be surprised when a much-loved struggle song has new words or your favourite word is pronounced differently; shifting paradigms is the main purpose of this group.

* We Didn't Come to Hell for the Croissants: Seven Deadly New Stories for
Consenting Adults: 26 to 30 August.Performed by: Jemma Kahn and Roberto Pombo
Directed by: Lindiwe Matshikiza. Written by Tertius Kapp, Rosa Lyster, Lebogang Mogashoa, Nicholas Spagnoletti, Louis Viljoen and Justin Justin Oswald. Seven deadly sins. Seven writers. Seven new stories. Jemma Kahn and her irreverent sidekick return in the eagerly anticipated sequel to the international cult hit The Epicene Butcher with stories that seduce the sinless and astonish the immoral. It's unmissable and definitely not for children. Unless you are an awful parent.