Can Themba
The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi, a Biography Siphiwo Mahala
An engaging read, well-researched and accessible. It offers new insights not only on Can Themba – the subject of the book – but on his era, his peers, and the movement that later became known as the Sophiatown Renaissance. Mahala captures the period and its politics so vividly that he makes the reader critically aware of how it felt to be in those events, rather
than merely chronicling them.
— Professor Zakes Mda, novelist, poet and playwright, Professor Emeritus of English, Ohio University and Creative Writing Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University. A satisfying chemistry radiates from every page of Siphiwo Mahala’s biography of Can Themba. Mahala’s clarity, vivid narration, and firm touch do full justice to the life and work of Themba, a brilliant artist who was mercurial and troubled in equal measure. The result is an affectionate and astute biography that reaches across the generations.
— Professor David Attwell, author and Professor of English, University of York and Extraordinary Professor, University of the Western Cape.
Point of View: A chat with the playwright of “Bloke and His American Bantu”
Kaya 959 Reporter
Men of letters: Mahala and Maake-ka Ncube team up again to stage ‘Bloke & His American Bantu’
Sello Maake kaNcube Foundation presents Bloke and His American Bantu
EVENT | South African Play Celebrates Langston Hughes and Bloke Modisane’s Friendship
by Chukwuebuka Ibeh - Brittle Paper
Bloke Modisane, Langston Hughes inspired play for Johannesburg.
Can Themba: The Power of the Creative Imagination and the Possibility of Solidarity and Social Cohesion in Our Time
Keynote Address: Presented at the Can Themba Symposium held at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
Prof Muxe Nkondo - 13 September 2018
Can Themba: The Power of the Creative Imagination and the Possibility of Solidarity and Social Cohesion in Our Time
September seeks to illuminate debates about what should be preserved as heritage, about the form in which heritage should be conserved, and how it should be used in the present. These debates are not limited to tangible objects and places, but extend to intangible heritage of social practices and social memory. Siphiwo Mahala’s recent doctoral thesis on Can Themba’s creative writing, his documentary, Teacher in the Newsroom, and his creative interpretations and re-enactments of The Suit in African Delights, affirm the importance of literary heritage as a public good, and uncovers the ways in which literary heritage embodies relationships of mutual recognition as well as imaginative identification with the other in a society of differences.
Mahala launches Red Apple Dreams at the Market Theatre
The Market Theatre Foundation in association with Iconic Productions invites you to the launch of Red Apple Dreams and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by Siphiwo Mahala.
In this book, Mahala is in the company of prominent South African authors including Can Themba, James Matthews, Njabulo S. Ndebele and Zukiswa Wanner. Known for his excellent re-imagination of Themba’s The Suit, which is also featured in this collection, Mahala recasts fresh perspectives on Matthews’s classic story, The Park, and embarks on an intergenerational dialogue with other prominent South African writers.
Can Themba’s salon of debate recalled
In the words of fictional wizardry educator from the Harry Potter franchise, Professor Albus Dumbledore: “The truth” Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”
The House of Truth launched on Can Themba’s Anniversary
The evening of Friday, 8 September saw book lovers gathered at the Nelson Mandela Foundation for the launch of Siphiwo Mahala’s The House of Truth. The book is a bioplay inspired by the life of legendary writer and journalist Can Themba, from the illustrious 1950s generation of Drum writers.
We sell books by and about South African icons. The year 2017 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the legendary writer and journalist Can Themba, thus our focus in Book Sales were books written by this icon. The year 2018 is celebrated in South Africa as the Year of Nelson Mandela, in honour of what would have been our global icon’s 100th birthday.
Iconic Productions
Iconic Productions is a new black-owned production house whose work transcends different arts genres including literature, film, and theatre. We pride ourselves in our ability to transform ordinary stories into masterpieces of high artistic merit. Our team of highly qualified, experienced and motivated professionals boasts excellent skills in very diverse fields of speciality.
We offer services on commission in areas such as Artist Management, Production, Event Management, Strategic Management, Public Relations, Transcription and Translation Services, as well as Printing and Design. Following successful performance of the play at the 2016 Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Market Theatre and Soweto Theatre, we published The House of Truth as our first product in literature. We are expanding our sphere of work into the film industry and we are now at an advanced stage of producing a documentary.
We sell our products both online and in public platforms such as festivals, book fairs as well as during performances.
Can Themba's life, writing, personal joys and political battles explode into full colour in this energetic and pithy one-man play, starring South African acting legend Sello Maake kaNcube in its maiden run. Mahala weaves together elements of Themba's life and career with deft wit and poise, recreating the sparkle and pathos of the Drum era and Sophiatown before both were literally destroyed by apartheid legislation.
Themba Limba is When a Man Criesa family man who is caught between his flourishing career as a teacher and municipal councillor in the township of Sekunjalo, and his overriding sexual interests. Despite his attempts to maintain his status in the community, his actions eventually lead to his downfall.
