By BRUCE DENNILL
When the Dlomo family comes together to celebrate their daughter’s academic achievement, uncomfortable questions of identity, family history and belonging unravel. The Graduation of K-C is a brand-new South African play by Greg Homann, co-produced by The Market Theatre and How Now Brown Cow. The cast features rising star Ketsia Kamogelo Velaphi as K-C, alongside Julie-Anne McDowell, Lungi Pinda and Morna Regan. Velaphi chats about her way of working.
What is the central aspect of acting as a craft or job that attracted you to it, or which keeps you passionate about it?
The intimacy and yet simultaneously, the freedom that sharing a story and sharing a feeling(s) with other people creates. That’s definitely what keeps me passionate about it.
How were you introduced to theatre (or television or film) as an art form or space in which you could see value and interest, as well as a place or platform for entertainment?
My introduction to theatre goes back to primary school. We would have these annual school concerts or ‘revue’ weeks, that I looked forward to all year – a week of performing a play that one of our English teachers, Ma’am Oliver, had written, for the whole school to take part in. I was – and honestly still am – quite a shy person but for some reason, the school concerts were the only place where I felt I could come alive and express myself in a way that I had never done before, and in way that I often struggle to in my own life. I discovered that a kind of confidence is available to me on a stage, that is a lot harder to come by off stage. I realised that I needed theatre, to not only access more of a sense of self and a confidence that could help me as a person.
How does acting as a calling sit with people outside of your professional or creative community?
I have been quite fortunate to have always had a wider community of people outside of the arts – my family and friends – that have always encouraged my desire and pursuit of acting. I am incredibly grateful to have never been short of support, to this day.
Where does acting sit for you as a tool for teaching – from the practical (a script to instruct workers as a corporate, say) to the profound and emotional (modelling how to grieve, or showcasing the complexities of relationships)?
I believe it is an essential tool for teaching, if not the most important one. It’s a tangible way to share a space that I still feel is under explored in many spaces in the world, especially the corporate space – and that’s the emotional space. This is the what it means to be human – constantly grappling with how we feel, while doing things outside of it.
Interpretation of text or direction – how do you position yourself or your perspectives in a character you’re playing?
I think I am only ever really able to reach a position on a character I play, through the organic rehearsal process, involving a mixture of deep and practical conversations with everyone in the room, as well as with myself. I think the clearest thing to me is so far about finding an accurate place to work from, to form a spine of a character, is dig into their story – what makes them who they are/their background – without judgement and with a belief in their choices. I think this gets me closest to the truth of the person/character and their role in the greater story.
Backstage, in the dressing room or on set while a show or shoot is in progress: what do you do to keep yourself busy and/or focused? Have you had any tense or amusing situation in that space?
I genuinely always develop a love and or appreciation for the people I work with so I enjoy chatting to them about the work heaps and that usually sparks new ways to approach it, new ways to focus or keep inspired. I also tend to keep thinking about what it is I want to achieve on the stage or on set that day, and/or in the next scene.
What’s your current dream role?
I have two actually, and both equally scare and excite me to even think about: West Side Story’s Maria and Prima Facie’s Tessa.