Cape Town Opera Company's 'Mandela Trilogy'

1. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

“He lived, literally, in a mud hut. He was the surrogate son of chief and he went through the initiation rights of every Khoisan man and that meant isolation in the bush, circumcision in the raw and he was also given a bride which was part of the tradition. He also turned down the arranged marriage, stole two of the chief’s cattle and hived off to Johannesburg. Speaking to Classic FM, the opera's writer Michael Williams said of the first act: “That aspect of his earlier life really intrigued me. And so the first act is about the young man who is at once traditional but is at the same time aware that beyond those green hills is the giant that is stirring and he needs to be a part of that; his destiny does not lie in the hills of the Transkai.”

2. Mandela Trilogy - Act 1

L-R: Xolela Sixaba as Chieftan and Thato Machona as a young Mandela in the Eastern Cape

3. Siphamandla Yakupa (Mandela’s mother) and Thato Machona (young Mandela) Act 1

A young Mandela receives strong words from his mother in Act 1 of Mandela Trilogy

4. Tshepo Moagi

A praise singer played by Tshepo Moagi during Act 1 of Mandela Trilogy, which takes place in the Eastern Cape

5. Siphamandla Yakupa

Siphamandla Yakupa plays Nelson Mandela's mother in Act 1

6. Members of Cape Town Opera (Act 1)

Act 1 of the Mandela Trilogy depicts Mandela’s traditional upbringing in the Eastern Cape

7. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

A young Mandela (Thato Machona – centre) leaves the Transkei at the end of Act 1

8. Gloria Bosman as Dolly Rathebe

Gloria Bosman plays Dolly Rathebe, a successful musician and actress from South Africa

9. Aubrey Poo as Mandela

Aubrey Poo as Mandela in Act 2 of Mandela Trilogy, which depicts the turbulent but heady atmosphere of the townships at the onset of Apartheid

10. Aubrey Poo and Philisa Sibeko

Nelson Mandela (Aubrey Poo) and his wife Winnie (Philisa Sibeko) in Johannesburg. Winnie was Mandela's second wife, and they remained married throughout Mandela's imprisonment.

11. Members of Cape Town Opera

The second act of Mandela Trilogy deals with Mandela’s life in the environs of the city and it’s here that different types of music come into play. Writer Michael Williams explained: “When he gets to Johannesburg, it’s the 1950s. It’s the music of Miriam Makeba, it’s the music of Hugh Masakela, it’s the jive, it’s the American influence of jazz and blues coming in to the townships,” elaborates Williams. “It just seemed to me that the second act would become a jazz musical that looks at his life as a lawyer and his relationships with three different women.”

12. Members of Cape Town Opera

An ensemble of singers make a big sound for Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

13. Members of Cape Town opera at the shebeen

A late night party takes place at the shebeen in act 2 of Mandela Trilogy. A shebeen was originally an illicit bar or club where alcohol was sold without a licence

14. Aubrey Poo (Mandela Act 2) and Gloria Bosman (Dolly)

Nelson Mandela and actress Gloria Bosman in Act 2 of Mandela Trilogy

15. Aubrey Poo (Mandela 2) and members of Cape Town Opera

Mandela (played by Aubrey Poo) begins to get political in 1950s Johannesburg

16. Aubrey Lodewyk (Mandela 3)

Aubrey Lodewyk performing Long Walk to Freedom in act 3

17. Aubrey Lodewyck as Mandela with prison guard

The prologue of Mandela Trilogy takes place in prison, where Mandela is being held

18. Members of Cape Town Opera

Free Nelson Mandela protests begin

19. Aubrey Lodewyk

Aubrey Lodewyk playing a distressed Nelson Mandela in Act 3 of Mandela Trilogy

20. Aubrey Lodewyk

Aubrey Lodewyk plays Mandela in Act 3 of the opera, which depicts Mandela's long years in prison

21. Philisa Sibeko and Aubrey Lodewyk

The Mandela of Act 3 with his wife Minnie, played by Philisa Sibeko

22. Aubrey Lodewyk (Mandela 3)

23. Aubrey Lodewyck as Mandela with prison guard

The third Mandela with a prison guard in Mandela Trilogy's prologue

24. Thato Machona (Mandela 1), Aubrey Lodewyk (Mandela 3) Aubrey Poo (Mandela 2) at the Trial

All three Mandela's take to the stage for the opera's finale

25. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

All three Mandela's take to the stage during Mandela's trial

26. Aubrey Lodewyck – Freedom

Aubrey Lodewyck's Nelson Mandela celebrates his release from prison. Mandela was jailed for 27 years in total.