Musho Festival of One and Two Hander Theatre

Musho – Zulu for an enthusiastic praise response, something similar to “Bravo!” - embraces all accepted forms of theatre: from mime to physical theatre, drama to comedy-theatre. It pays tribute to the smaller works featuring one and two performers.

After extensive research, PANSA (The Performing Arts Network of South Africa) in KZN realized that a festival early in the year staging more intimate theatrical productions is considered a useful and exciting start to the year by performers and audiences alike. Musho benefits the performers as staging their shows and collecting reviews early in the year helps them for future seasons of the production through the year. The audiences love seeing an array of fabulous theatre early in the year when calendars are quiet and when the festive flurry is over.

“The first five festivals held in January annually from 2006 were astonishingly inspiring and successful with some fabulous productions and amazing support,” says Musho Festival Director, Emma Durden.

In addition to the nine top-notch productions from around South Africa, this year’s festival sees the addition of the Musho Twist. This involves six short productions from community theatre groups involved in the Twist Theatre Development Project, which is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. These six groups are paired with award-winning writers and directors, including Neil Coppen, James Ngcobo, Anton Krueger, and Amy Jephta. These dynamic collaborations promise to bring something fresh and exciting to Durban audiences,

The festival is supported by Twist Theatre Development Projects, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, and Pentravel.