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Imagine children in a village playing freely while their grandmothers sit in the shade and watch them. As soon as it gets dark, everyone goes home. Before everyone goes to sleep, a young boy sleeps on the floor next to his grandmother’s bed while she tells him an inganekwane story (stories).
That kind of groundwork was done in the 1970s, and now South Africa and the rest of the world can enjoy the work of the best actor in the world, Siyabonga Twala.
He has played some of TV’s most ruthless businessmen, and his name is respected, but he just sees himself as a guy who gets to play other people.
Drum talks to the famous Siyabonga, who is 53 years old, on the set of The River before it is announced that she will be joining the popular telenovela.
He joins as Bangizwe Zwane, an alpha male who is street-smart and sure of who he is.
Bangizwe has a successful scrapyard that he uses to hide his illegal activities. When he was younger, he was a bit rough around the edges. He got in trouble with the police, but as he got older, he got better at what he did.
Why does he come to town? To get the woman he loved back.
He and the girl he likes went to school together. They were friends since childhood. He’s always loved Lindiwe, but he’s been too shy to tell her. They spent a lot of time together and talked about their hopes and dreams.
“I just play characters. I get to play different people and that’s all. I do not see myself in any other light,” Siyabonga tells Drum.
He says that actors need to pay close attention to the people they meet every day because they may have to play a role similar to someone they have met before. He says that this helps with the research he has to do for each character.
Before he became an actor who won many awards and was trained by the great Gibson Kente, he was the seventh of eight children and loved to listen to his grandmother tell stories.
“I would lie next to her bed and think about all the people in her story.”
He smiles when he talks about his grandmother, Gogo Getrude, who was known as MaNkukhu. Home was in Umlazi, KZN, but he spent a lot of time with her emakhaya during school breaks.
“It was like her stories brought those people to life, and she loved making people laugh with her stories. “uGogo and I were very close,” he says with a smile.
The book Inkensela yase Mgungundlovu by Sibusiso Nyembezi, which was later made into a TV show, helped him become more interested in the arts.
Moving forward to his career, he has had a lot of success both on stage and on TV.
“Training really helps with the basics and to sustain yourself, it is very important to understand that this is just work. Just like any other job, except there are millions of people watching you do yours. We may be public figures, but we are just people at the end of the day.”
The book Inkensela yase Mgungundlovu by Sibusiso Nyembezi, which was later made into a TV show, fueled his interest in the arts.
Fast forward to his career, and he has had a lot of success both on stage and on TV.
“We feed off each other on set and it’s amazing.”
He thinks that actors like Zenzo Ngqobe and Zola Nombona, who are younger than him, will shake up the business because they work so hard.
He thinks that any actor who wants to stay in the business for a long time needs to keep learning and getting better at what they do.
“Work hard,” he advises newcomers. “If you work hard and you don’t complain about money, in due time people will show you your worth and pay you what is due to you because you work hard.”
On arrival to any set, he says, you can definitely see those who are there because of high social media followers.
“You can spot them immediately on set and you can see who is not prepared to work but hoping their social media following will carry them through.”
But for those who are serious, he says actors should first know who they are personally so they can be able to play other people.
“On set you do not know who or what can trigger which person to act a certain way, so you must always be prepared. You must always position yourself to do something great. There are no boring or unimportant characters. All characters have a place in the story, even if they are not the leads. The lead characters could never be able to do what they need to do without those supporting roles, so everyone is important.”
The father of five says though he has a beautiful singing voice, he would never pursue a career in music.
“I have done musicals where the character had to sing and I think that is enough.”