Mncedisi Shabangu

Mncedisi Shabangu (1969-2022) was a South African actor and director.

Biography

Born Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu in KaNyamazane, outside Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.

He initially wanted to study law, but his family was too poor to cover the costs, but then Gordon Motha, a teacher and playwright at Khaliphane High School, recognised Shabangu's acting ability and encouraged him to perform in school plays, including Slavery (1992) and Secret Agenda (1993).

He then enrolled as a student at The Market Theatre Laboratory in 1995-1997, he enrolled for theatre training at the Market Theatre Laboratory. While there he was awarded the Barney Simon Scholarship to study a summer acting course at the Royal National Theatre studio in London in 1998.

He returned to build an enviable reputation as actor in a range of influential productions, often working with directors at the Market Theatre and the Baxter Theatre and going on international tours.

He also went on to make a career in film and TV.

He passed away on 24 July 2022.

As actor

On stage

His first big roles were in Gordon Motha's Slavery (1992) and Secret Agenda (1993).

While a student at the Market Theatre Lab., he co-created and appeared in the smash hit workshopped play Gomorrah!, which opened at the Market Theatre in 1997 before touring major cities in Sweden.

He then became a professional actor, and his many theatre credits include Orpheus (1998), Ways of Dying (1999) and Call us Crazy (2000), Tshepang (2003-11 and again 2015-16), The Suitcase (2006) Dream of the Dog (Barney Simon Theatre, 2007), Woza Albert! (2012), Asinamali (2013), Fishers of Hope (Taweret) (2014), The Inconvenience of Wings (2016), Woza Albert! (2016), Marat/Sade and Blood Knot (2022), his final performance.

His many theatre awards over the years have included the Young Artist Award for Drama (2004), FNB Vita Award for Best actor in a supporting role, Fleur du Cap Award as best actor, a KKNK Award as best actor and a Naledi Award for best supporting actor.