We Didn't Come to Hell for the Croissants

Age restriction: 16+

Presented by: POPArt Productions in association with Jemma Kahn

Writers:

Tertius Kapp, Lebogang Mogashoa, Rosa Lyster, Nicholas Spagnoletti, Justin Oswald and Louis Viljoen

Director:

Lindiwe Matshikiza

Performed by: Jemma Kahn and Roberto Pombo

Illustrated by Carlos Amato, Rebecca Haysom, Dave Jackson and Jemma Kahn

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Jemma is a theatre maker based in Johannesburg, South Africa. With a background in both fine art and theatre, Jemma concentrates on highly visual theatre, with particular interest in illustration and costume.  She is best known for her one-woman kamishibai show ‘The Epicene Butcher’, which launched in Johannesburg in 2012 before traveling the globe.   In 2014 Jemma was an artist in residnce at the Dutch Afrovibes festival. In 2015 she was one of the particpating artists at the Johannesburg Pavillion, Venice Biennale.  Her performance credits include the lead in Jane Taylor’s ‘After Cardenio’, commissioned by Harvard scholar Stephen Greenblatt and hosted by GIPCA, her acclaimed kamishibai production ‘The Epicene Butcher’ and it’s sequel ‘We Didn’t Come to Hell for the Croissants’ directed by Lindiwe Matshikiza and ‘Amateur Hour!’ directed by John Trengove which was awarded second place for Best Theatre production at Fringe World 2014.   

Roberto Pombo completed a four year Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dramatic Arts at the University of Witwatersrand in 2007. He has since furthered his studies graduating from the renowned Helikos International School of performance in Italy. In addition to creating and devising much of his own theatre work, he has featured in a number of commercials, and is currently working full time as a performer on a new motion capture animation series, “Silly Seasons”.   

Highly acclaimed actress and director, Lindiwe Matshikiza, graduated from Rhodes University with an Honours Degree in Drama.   As an actress, she has recently been seen on screen in the award winning South African Film, “Four Corners”, and on stage in the French co production- ‘SterCity’- which has toured the African continent in 2014. Her most recent directing credit, The Donkey Child, is a multimedia community theatre piece, which won major critical and audience acclaim.   

Writer, Louis Viljoen is a writer and director based in Cape Town. He has written several successful shows including ‘The Frontiersmen’ (2013) and ‘The Kingmakers’ (2014). In 2012 Viljoen’s play ‘Champ’ was awarded the Fleur Du Cap for Best New South African script. ‘Champ’ was performed as part of The South African Season at Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. His newest work, ‘The Pervert Laura’ was awarded two Fleur Du Caps awards, both for Emily Child's performance as lead actress and Louis Viljoen for Best new director.  

Writer  Tertius Kapp currently lectures in the Department of Afrikaans at Fort Hare University. Previously he lectured in the Department of Dutch and South African Studies at Adam Mickiecz University, Poznan, Poland. Kapp has won several awards for his play ‘Rooiland’ (Fluer Du Cap, Smeltkroes Prize, Fiesta awards) and ‘Oorsee’ (Smeltkroes Prize and Fiesta nominee), both published by Tafelberg.   

Rosa Lyster is a writer and PhD student living in Cape Town. Her Phd focuses on reading and censorship in Apartheid South Africa. Lyster’s essays and poetry have been published in various literary journals including Aerodrome, The Toast and Prufrock.

Nicholas Spagnoletti is a South African playwright and theatre producer. Author of the multiple award winning play London Road, he has more recently penned the highly successful Civil Parting.   

Lebogang Mogashoa was born in 1985 in Johannesburg. He grew up in a small village, then a bigger one, followed by an all-boys Catholic boarding school and finally a big move to Cape Town where he completed a Film and Media undergrad degree. He then headed to Korea to teach English where he started his story telling series “When we were nearly Young”, which developed a cult following. He returned to Johannesburg in 2013, and has been presenting the same story telling series at POPArt, where guests such as Yvonne Chaka Chaka have featured.