THEATRE REVIEW: Ngema and Mtwa together again as Woza Albert takes centre stage
The pair last performed the iconic play in 1985
As friends and collaborators, Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa have over the years grown and progressed separately, but not apart. One of the reasons for reprising their roles in Woza Albert, the iconic play that launched their fame 40 years ago, is that they had missed working together. They met in 1979 at the Donaldson Orlando Community Centre in Soweto in what was the first assembly for the rehearsal of the Gibson Kente play, Poor Mama and the Load. “Those who’d been chosen and cast for the play were called into the centre. As I went in all the other chairs in the venue were occupied. The only vacant one was next to him,” says Mtwa. “We started talking. A friendship started and it was going to be a lifelong relationship,” Ngema says. “As we talked there was a special affinity that we discovered about one another, about our goals and what we wanted to achieve. That is what grew us closer and closer together,” Mtwa adds. They shared a common conviction and ambition to create substanti...
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