Nomsa Nene

Nomsa Nene (1957-). Actress on stage, film and television, Director, Singer, Dancer, Actor, Puppeteer, Presenter and Producer.

Biography

She was married to Peter Se-Puma until their separation in 1990. Since 2001 she was one of the top-selling agents at Wendy Machanik Properties (WMP) until she opened her own company, Nomsa Nene Properties, in 2011.

Career

Started in showbusiness when she auditioned for a television commercial at the age of six. She started her career with Gibson Kente.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

She starred in the ME nobody knows, for The Company at the Market Theatre in 1977. Benjy Francis directed and it also starred Leslie Mongezi, Leonie Hofmeyr, Barrie Shah and Jonathan Taylor.

In 1979 she was cast in the lead role of the house maid "Poppie" in PACOFS’s original Afrikaans stage version of Elsa Joubert’s influential novel Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (lit: “The wandering years of Poppie Nongena”, but formally translated and published as The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena, 19**) which would establish her as a major star in the broader theatre environment in South Africa. She would go on to play the role in almost all the stage versions of the play - local and abroad, Afrikaans and English - as well as appearing in the 2019 film, though not in the lead. (See the entry on Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena.)

Once launched, she appeared in numerous productions over the years, including:

For PACT:

Strider: The Story of a Horse (1987), Women of Troy (1987), A Lad 'n a Lamp (1988), The Martian Chronicles (1988), The Blacks (NAF 1989), Angel in a Dark Room (1990), Koning Lear (1990), Sleeping Beauty (1990), Koning Ubu (1991), Jacques and his Master (1991), Death and the King's Horseman (1992).

For other companies:

Die Van Aardes van Grootoor (Market Theatre 1978-1979), There's No Sugar Left (1979 or 1980), Call Me Woman (Market Theatre 1979), Stepping Out (Pieter Toerien 1985), Let the Spear Fit the Wound (Pot Pourri Festival 1991), Homeland (1992), My Children!, My Africa! (PACOFS 1993), as the San woman in Bessie Head's Maru (1993), The Good Woman of Sharkville (NAF 1996), Ways of Dying 1999, Symbols of Sex and State (2000), Romeo and Juliet (Maynardville 2000).

As director:

She was the first black woman to direct a play at the Market Theatre's Laager, when she directed Hamba Dompas in January 1986 with the author (Peter Se-Puma) and John Ledwaba.

Film and TV:

She moved on to film and TV work as well. For example she appeared in the documentary film Country Lovers (with screenplay by Nadine Gordimer, 1982; played "Julia" in the SABC TV1 soap opera, Die Glaskasteel, joined Pieter-Dirk Uys to play "Dora" in a TV series entitled Going Down Gorgeous (2000), became "Zaza Gabu" in the outragous breakfast time programme The Toasty Show, with Bill Flynn (2000) and was a presenter for Zama-Zama.

Awards

Nomsa Nene's twenty year career is nothing short of phenonemal. With a string of feature film, television and theatre credits to her name, she has won significant awards including an OB [Off Broadway] award for her role as Poppie in Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena.

She won the Computicket award, 1984.

Nominated Vita Award (Free State region) for her role in My Children!, My Africa! (best leading actress); award year 1993.

Sources

Tucker, 1997.

Various entries in the NELM database.

The me nobody knows: a programme for the The Company production directed by Benjy Francis, with Nomsa Nene and Ruth Masilo in the cast, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, from 10 May 1977.

Saturday Star, 6 April 2013.

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