Event information
The powerful one-hander, Shadow Boxing, written by James Gaddas, returns to the Baxter Masambe Theatre, pairing the award-winning director Mdu Kweyama and emerging talent, Daniel Newton.
Newton received the Fleur du Cap Best Performance in a Revue, Cabaret or One-person Show, earlier this year, for his performance as Flynn in the production. Following its run at The Baxter, the production transfers to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August.
The coming-of-age story deals with the demons of the past and discovering of one’s identity. Flynn is a young boxer, the son of a professional boxer whose career never really took off. Unlike his father, Flynn is determined to become a successful, professional boxer. In doing so, he must fight off his inherited perceptions of masculinity as he discovers his own identity. He thrusts himself into a gruelling training regime to avoid his internal struggle.
Kweyama, artistic director of the award-winning Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival was awarded the Naledi award for Best Actor in a Lead Role and Best Original Choreography for Karoo Moose in 2008. His directing accolades at The Baxter include Most Honest Man, Reza De Wet’s Missing, Woza Albert and Edward Albee’s The Goat, or who is Sylvia?. His direction of the Newton’s budding talent is the perfect fit.
Newton, a promising actor, writer and musician, completed his BA Honours in Drama and Acting at the University of Cape Town in 2021. While he started acting for film in 2016, Shadow Boxing marked his first professional performance. In 2023 he performed in Louis Viljoen’s, The Visigoths and before that, wrote and directed, The Rangers, which received great acclaim from audiences and critics.
The son of a wrestler, writer James Gaddas is an English actor and writer. He is well-known for his roles in Starter for 10, Jonathan Creek and Bad Girls. He has appeared in Billy Elliot the Musical, Peter Pan, Spamalot and in Mamma Mia! in London. He has also made appearances on The Bill, Between the Lines, Tracy Beaker Returns, Medics, Dogtown, Doctors, Waterloo Road, Emmerdale, The Girls, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.
