Gcina Mhlope - Life and Career

Life and Career

Mhlophe was born in 1959 in KwaZulu-Natal to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. She started her working life as a domestic servant, later working as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer for Learn and Teach, a magazine for newly-literate people. The unique timbre of her voice eventually singled her out to perform.

Several experiences inspired Mhlophe to turn to a career as storyteller. She credits her storytelling ability to her grandmother, who brought her up in Durban. Mhlope says, "My grandmother taught me everything about telling stories. When I was growing up, half the kids in our neighbourhood would come and spend the evening at home so that they could listen to izinganekwane (tales)."

She began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-black neighbourhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back. Still, Mhlope only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg.

Since then Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Mhlope has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.

Mhlophe's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song and idiom. The realisation of her dreams is a visceral motivator for her and she is passing on her infectious enthusiasm by developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba (Bring me a story) Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organization.

Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.

Mhlophe focuses on making books available to poor South African rural communities by making sure that libraries are built, and making sure they are stocked with locally and culturally relevant books. Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.

Selected Works

• 1983, took the lead in Umongikazi: The Nurse, by Maishe Maponya
• 1984, acted in Black Dog: Inj'emnyama
• 1986, Place of Weeping (film)
• 1986, Have you seen Zandile? (autobiographical play, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Mhlope as Zandile)
• 1987, Born in the RSA (New York)
• 1989, storytelling festival at the Market Theatre (there have been many since then)
• 1989, performed a praise poem in honour of Nokukhanya Luthuli, 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner
• 1990, performed Have you seen Zandile? at the Edinburgh Festival
• Toured Have you seen Zandile? through Europe and the USA
• 1989-1990, resident director at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
• co-ordinator at READ, a national literacy organization
• 1991, Ashoka Fellowship (social entrepreneurship innovator)
• 1993, Music for Little People (CD)
• 1994, The Gift of the Tortoise (contributed to the Ladysmith Black Mambazo album)
• 1997, Poetry Africa, presenting poet
• 1999, guest speaker at the Perth Writers Festival
• Philharmonic Orchestra (London)
• Royal Albert Hall (London)
• Cologne Philharmonie, Africa at the Opera
• Honorary doctorate from the London Open University
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Natal
• Lectureships at various universities
• 2000, performed in Peter und der Wolf at the Komische Oper (Berlin)
• Wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends
• 2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival
• 2002, The Bones of Memory (performance, history-telling from the old and new South Africa)
• 2003, lectured on storytelling at the Eye of the Beholder seminar
• 2003, Mata Mata (performance, family musical)
• 2006, FIFA World Cup South African handover ceremony, Germany