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    Cape Town Opera Company's 'Mandela Trilogy'

    We've got some exclusive snaps from Cape Town Opera's remarkable new opera about the life of Nelson Mandela, which comes to the UK for the first time in June

    1. Cape Town Opera'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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      2. Mandela Trilogy - Act 1

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

    3. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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. Cape Town Opera's 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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      5. Siphamandla Yakupa

      Siphamandla Yakupa plays Nelson Mandela's mother in Act 1

    6. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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

      7. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

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

    8. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      8. Gloria Bosman as Dolly Rathebe

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

    9. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      12. Members of Cape Town Opera

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

    13. 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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

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

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

    15. Cape Town Opera's 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. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      16. Aubrey Lodewyk (Mandela 3)

      Aubrey Lodewyk performing Long Walk to Freedom in act 3

    17. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      17. Aubrey Lodewyck as Mandela with prison guard

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

    18. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      18. Members of Cape Town Opera

      Free Nelson Mandela protests begin

    19. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      19. Aubrey Lodewyk

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

    20. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      20. Aubrey Lodewyk

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

    21. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      21. Philisa Sibeko and Aubrey Lodewyk

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

    22. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      22. Aubrey Lodewyk (Mandela 3)

    23. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      23. Aubrey Lodewyck as Mandela with prison guard

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

    24. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      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

      25. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

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

    26. Cape Town Opera's Mandela Trilogy

      26. Aubrey Lodewyck – Freedom

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

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