The Eswatini Theatre Club is kicking off September with a bang! Under the leadership of its newly elected committee of young, passionate creatives, the club is set to light up the stage with two exciting shows and the highly anticipated European Union Film Festival.
It all starts tonight (Thursday, 11th September 2025) with The Village Sounds concert by Siso Nkambule, and you don’t want to miss it!
Siso Nkambule, a beloved Swati musician and creative entrepreneur, invites audiences to come and experience his enthralling show and can expect “From the heart of Eswatini’s mountains, an acoustic world music intimate experience, where music meets memory. Through soulful storytelling and rich melodies, Siso paints scenes of homesteads, echoes of laughter, and the rhythmic pulse of village life. A concert that is not just music, but a painting you would appreciate for life.”
Kicking off at 6 pm (with a small entry fee of only E80), the concert will be held at the Eswatini Theatre Club’s newly revamped Foyer and promises to be a show not to be missed.
The HA! Man Show
On September 17, patrons will have the opportunity to witness the talented Francois Le Roux, a South African artist popularly known as HA!Man, renowned for enchanting and astonishing audiences the world over with his cello, original electronic accompaniments, keyboard, voice, and dances.
Ha!Man’s music reflects his Southern African roots, and his spontaneous approach challenges conventional ideas in both the serious and commercial music environments.
According to his biography, he has created numerous soundtracks for plays, films, and poetry performances, and his talents brought him distinguished appointments such as music direction for the South African National Woman of the Year Gala (2001, 2002) and the 2004 “Ukkasie” Festival’s Royal Albert Hall event in London.
Touted as one of South Africa’s top musical talents and a ground-breaking cellist/music creator, he operates independently, travelling about 70,000 km a year by car.
He coined the term HA! to express the spirited way in which he conducts his performances. This show is dubbed The HA!MAN Show.
The artist began as a classically trained cellist and pianist, but started to improvise at the piano at age three, serving as a church organist at age ten and composing his first orchestral work at thirteen. His creativity also expanded to other media, and a poem he wrote at 16 was used as a central sample of creativity amongst the youth in a doctoral thesis at the University of Johannesburg. After studies in philosophy and theology, he left the formal environment to become the “HA!Man,” fully devoting his time and career to the development of spontaneous expression as an art form, a life philosophy, and a way of restoring vitality in music.
Over the last two decades, this path took him all over South Africa and then all over the world as he played and workshopped his way from person to person, audience to audience, and place to place. It is difficult to categorize his way and his musical style, which incorporates strong elements of classical styles, African music, and modern genres.
His performances are never in a set order, and he thrives on making art of the moment, impulses given by the audience, or simply the feelings born from silences.
The EU Film Festival
The Theatre Club will shut down the month with the European Union Film Festival from September 18- 20.
Patrons and film fanatics will see the best of European and local cinema, powerful stories, and a space to connect, network, and be inspired.
The stable stated the highlight of the festival will be the Opening and Award Ceremony on Friday, 19 September at 6 PM, where the celebration of the incredible talent of contestants from the Smartphone Short Film Competition will be witnessed.
“Expect thought-provoking films, creative energy, and unforgettable evenings of culture and conversation.”
A New Committee Hard at Work
It is worth noting that Eswatini Theatre Club was awarded a grant by the German Embassy (based in Tswane, South Africa) to establish a grassroots performance space. The grant was a generous sum of 21,700 Euros, which is approximately E421 878 and is set to go a long way in the development of the local arts and culture space.
This support has enabled the institution to refurbish its foyer and transform it into a vibrant grassroots performance space, further strengthening its role within the country’s performance arts landscape.
This achievement comes within the first year of the new committee taking office, a team comprising predominantly artists and cultural practitioners.
Under their leadership, the Theatre Club has experienced a notable increase in usage, hosting a diverse range of events such as film screenings, music concerts, dance performances, and theatre programmes.
The Theatre Club also received a grant valued at around US$2 million, which has been allocated to renovate the theatre’s main lobby and rehearsal spaces, transforming them into accessible, flexible performance and workshop areas.
The project is aimed at supporting emerging artists, fostering community engagement, and increasing accessibility to the arts within the city. The Theatre Club’s vision is to act as a window into Eswatini’s expanding cultural landscape, forging connections between local artists and the wider regional and global arts communities.
