The play FatherHood, presented by the Alex Theatre Company & Academy, explores fatherlessness and healing in Alexandra, has returned to the township where it was created.

Written by Mike M Dzova, directed by Oupa Archie Matsetela, and featuring music direction by Sanele Mzimela, the production forms the heart of HOMEcoming, a programme of performances and workshops designed to retain artistic talent within the community.

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“HOMEcoming is personal,” Matsetela said. “I left Alex to study and work, but saw many talented youths leave and never return, or stay with no access. Our creatives are talented but isolated; they lack access, not ability. An established practitioner returning to share contacts, failures, and industry knowledge is not charity, it’s responsibility.”

The play follows four young men shaped by different experiences of absent or troubled fathers. Dzova, who also performs as Bannele, explained the core of the story. “FatherHood follows the emotional journey of four young men raised in Alexandra Township. Through movement, music, acapella, saxophone, and raw storytelling, it confronts audiences with questions about healing, responsibility, forgiveness, and the kind of men society is raising.”

Mzimela’s score was written from lived truth. “I composed from truth, not just theory. I used minimal, soulful sounds to let the pain of absent fathers and the hope of reconciliation breathe. The music doesn’t tell the story, it feels it. This music was born from Gomora’s stories. Bringing it back home is not a performance; it’s a homecoming. My community gets to hear their own heartbeat on stage.”

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Matsetela is clear that the goal goes beyond one show. “Skills are short-term, an ecosystem is long-term. Alexandra exports talent but doesn’t retain value. Through nine workshops with 30 to 40 young artists aged 16 to 30, we want to create a local creative economy. We want some to enter formal training, some to become facilitators, others to get agents and understand arts management.”

Mzimela sees live performance as the strongest classroom. “Music is the fastest teacher. One live session can teach more than a month of theory. When young artists see us live, they learn discipline, teamwork, and that their talent is valid. I want them to see that sound is a career. You can be a composer, a sound designer, a live performer.”

FatherHood already carries serious recognition. It won the Zwakala Festival in 2024 at the Market Theatre, taking Best Ensemble, while Dzova received the Best Scriptwriter Award. The production has also earned two Naledi Theatre Award nominations for Best Ensemble Cast.

For Matsetela, the long-term vision is clear. “We want this to become an annual October programme where we bring a major work home, not just to play, but to teach and reflect. That’s sustainability – when the student becomes the master who returns home to teach.”

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