Circus ring has motherly touch
Ma Khumalo is not just the MC of the Griffizi circus, but a mother and food lover too, writes Orielle Berry
IF YOU SPOT the bubbly Lilian Khumalo in the circus ring as Mama Circus, it may come as a surprise to find out she’s a qualified cordon bleu chef. She features as the MC in The Fantastic Grifizzi Brothers, now running in Stellenbosch.
Griffizi is a circus with a difference, designed and produced by Richard Griffin and the team that brought Madame Zingara and a string of iconic eateries and bars to the country.
The curvaceous and dynamic Khumalo is skilled at ensuring the show is streamlined and also at holding the attention of wide-eyed kids. And once the show is over there’s another party all over again outside as Khumalo puts her food knowledge to good use, managing the food stalls in the garden of delights – with a string of children trailing her from behind.
Most people will know Khumalo as one of the original members of Three Tons of Fun. The 37-year-old grew up in Mpumalanga, close to Groblersdal, and moved to Johannesburg where she was fostered by her “other family” where her grandmother worked.
“While I always wanted to be a singer and all that. My foster family and my own family urged me to do something I could fall back on. So I studied and became a chef and also had my own catering company where I cooked meals that busy people could freeze for a month. I was very appreciative I studied how to cook,” she said, adding she is also a qualified human resources officer and studied PR and marketing as well.
“But in mid 2000 it was time for me to live my dream and I auditioned for Idols and got to be in the top 25. I was working as a waitress at the time and I heard there were audition notices for girls to sing in a show.
“Once the people there spotted my potential, I was put together with some other women.”
“And so, the original Three Tons of Fun was born – along with Margarita Frees and the late Stella Magabe (of Fishy Feshuns fame). One thing led to another when the group joined the cast of Madame Zingara’s Theatre of Dreams.”
With her larger-than-life energy, Khumalo always manages to get audiences on their feet, taking them on a journey of music and comedy created to fascinate in the Theatre of Dreams.
Khumalo said: “I always wanted to run away with the circus.”
For the most part, audiences were wowed and had fun at the eccentric dinner circus, she adds.
When Madame Zingara closed last year, Khumalo said she went back to her original home in Mpumalanga and started growing vegetables.
“But the moment I heard Richard was back in business, I came back,” she said.
“I’m permanently attached to Griffizi now and I really love it – I love speaking and MC-ing and am on stage a lot of time but it’s great to be on the food side as well. There’s the Boho bus, the barber shop bar, tapas, a steakhouse, Ma Khumalo’s shisa nyama and fish-and-chip shop – I enjoy supervising and also helping out.”
Khumalo said the Griffizi circus travels around. Before Stellenbosch, they were in Fish Hoek and will move on to Maynardville when they finish their run in the Boland.
“This is my life,” she said, and her love and care of all the children at the circus extends to her own child.
“I have a beautiful four-year-old daughter – Rose Angela – and daddy is her full-time parent as they live on our small-holding back home. He made a decision to stop working as a full-time chef and agreed to raise our girl.”