Mousy drug dealer’s daughter, Nkhensani Tshinawa (played by rising star
Lali Dangazele), will, from Tuesday November 13, prove to be the saviour of Suffocate and his Kilowatt Club on the e.tv soapie Rhythm City.
At 16, she lives in Houghton, is serious and introverted, reads weird fiction, has strange musical tastes, dresses only in black, and makes no effort to connect with people her own age.
Her wealthy dad, Ivan, (played by former
Egoli star
Macks Papo) has various business interests: sports franchises, mining, media ownership, shopping malls, pizza outlets, and drug trafficking.
He is extremely concerned about his daughter’s morbid preoccupation with death, so he’s all for her hooking up with new school acquaintance, Tshidi (
Nokuthula Ledwaba), and regularly visiting the Khuse household (the Soweto home from home for just about every lost soul in Johannesburg).
Nkhensani will meet, and fall heavily for Suffocate, and - because it’s a small world - it will turn out that her dad has dealings with Bra Touch, the loan shark who has made life an insufferable hell for Suffo ever since he opened his Diepkloof venue.
You may remember Lali Dangazele from the cellphone ad in which she boards a train, her worried parents hand her a lunch tin, and she turns to a fellow passenger and says: "Usuku lami lukucala emsebenzini" ("It's my first day at work").
She is pictured here as her character in When We Were Black.
She is currently doing her honours at Wits University in Dramatic Arts, majoring in Applied Theatre and Film Studies.
Her career highlights to date: performing in the Market Theatre play Sophiatown, and roles as Mangi in the SABC1 mini-series
When We Were Black (which last month won the Best Drama Series award at the second annual SAFTA awards), as Thuli in the SABC3 drama series
Hard Copy, and as Yoli in the second and third seasons of
Home Affairs, the SABC1 drama series.
She also appeared in the mini-series
A Place Called Home, which aired on SABC1 from December 2006 to January 2007.
She loves dancing, teaching, and facilitating applied theatre, and enjoys the sounds of Abdul Ebrahim, Sibongile Khumalo, John Legend, Robin Thicke, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Sergio Mendes.
Macks Papo is a Bachelor of Arts (Dramatic Art) graduate from Wits University. He says he loves working with people in communities, because that’s where the real talent is to be found.
Apart from working on his own creative projects, Macks has appeared, and featured, in mainstream theatre and film productions, including Maru, Kippie, Taxi to Soweto, Wheels and Deals.
He also played the role of Tsheko Mashabela in Egoli.
Watch Rhythm City, weekdays at 18h30 on e.tv, from Tuesday November 13, to rejoice with Suffocate as - within the next fortnight - it becomes that new day and new life that he's always dreamed of.