From dropout to stage star
I DON’T HAVE AN ACTING INFLUENCE. I’M MY OWN PERSON ‘Your truth is the truth that we all want to see and will change someone’s life.’
Actor and comedian Seneliso Dladla, who grew up in KwaZulu-Natal in a family with six siblings, is currently portraying the muliti-faceted character of Pop in the theatre production of King
Kong after previously taking comedic and theatrical roles.
Dladla says his family worked extremely hard to get him where he is in showbiz.
A loving and supportive background filled with happy childhood memories in a town where people had hidden talents shaped him into the man he is today.
He later enrolled at Rhodes University, but there’s a secret involved.
“I did three years, but the secret is ... I dropped out,” he tells me.
Finding that the tertiary environment wasn’t for him, he says: “I’d say that my formal training came from learning on the job. There is no better teacher than experience.
“This industry doesn’t care about your qualifications, rather who you have worked with, what you have done and what you, as a performer, actually are capable of doing.
“So, all in all, I’ve gotten my formal training from people and especially all the rehearsing that I do behind the scenes. Not a single person can make you better than you can.” Dladla is better known for comedy, having been on TV’s
Comedy Central News and the David Kramer production, Orpheus.
In King Kong, audiences are surprised when he comes out in the character of Pop, the lovable Sophiatown township barber. He later becomes a ringmaster and the judge who gives the final sentence to the convicted King Kong, played by Andile Gumbi.
Pop is a multidimensional role and requires Dladla to morph from one character to another with ease and liquidity.
“It’s a tough task at first but you find a way to change into different characters. I actually play three characters in total.
“Pop, the boxing ring ref and the judge. I can thank actor and professor Andrew Buckland and comedian Rob Van Vuuren for teaching me how to access these different characters.
“As a young child, I always had the ability to play different characters when I was fooling around – and getting detention –in school, but Rob and Andrew showed me how to access and harness them. And the key is simple – it’s just to play and fool around.
“Put your inhibitions aside and enjoy being the fool. The fool will always resonate with the audience because behind the fool is truth, and that’s what we all want.”
Dladla wasn’t even born when the real story of Ezekiel Dlamini, which King Kong is based on, occurred.
To play his role, he had to seek a sense of those he would be playing, their influences and how they saw the world. In his opinion, the people of Sophiatown were incredible.
They had a sense of style that could never be duplicated and they always made their presence known. Dladla says it’s what every black person should strive for.
“They woke up every day and said: ‘I am a person, too, and I, too, am special.’ These people are the personification of what black consciousness is.”
Dladla says that when people ask him if he’s similar to Pop, he describes Pop as being “in him”.
The character is an underdog in the story who unites all the elements and characters of King Kong.
The story wouldn’t happen without Pop, nor would it be as solid.
But although the character is central to the story, it seems he has a fear of being in the limelight and stepping up to be seen
My family had to work extremely hard to get me where I am in showbiz. I did three years but the secret is... I dropped out. Seneliso Dladla Actor and comedian It’s a tough task at first, but you find a way to change into different characters. I actually play three characters in total: Pop, the boxing ring Ref and the judge.
in Sophiatown.
Pop’s character comes from a place of struggle, he has the power to influence and change people’s lives and the people who matter, like his love interest, played by Lerato Mvelase.
He explains the complexities of his character’s nature: “Every man’s fear is that they are not important or not enough, or that they can’t make an impact. Pop does that.
“He changes lives and he does this by just being himself and being true and loving fully.”
Off stage, Dladla is husband to actress Natasha Hess, whom he calls “wifey”, and a dad.
“I love to spend time with my lady, work on my music and stand-up comedy. That’s where I always find my centre, with my music, comedy and my wifey.
“I even play for her. I am constantly working on myself as a musician so as to make an album that will be the new benchmark.”
His acting has not been influenced by anyone as he chose to create his own experience through sheer talent and imagination: “Strangely, I don’t have an acting influence. Well not that I know of. But I’m my own person.
“When I think about what I’m about to do on stage or in any scene, gag or musical note, I ask myself: If this situation was happening this very second, what would my natural response be?
“Forget the audience. Forget looking good.
“Forget how you feel people will look at you and do what the truth tells you to do.
“I have actors that I adore, but none influence me because I try so much to be myself and to do what comes to me naturally.
“If I can achieve that, then I am unique in every way, and that’s important to me.”
Dladla’s next job will be in a one-man comedy show, Ichameleon, where he plays more than six characters.
“This show is extremely important and this country needs to see it.
“My wifey works on this show with me and it’s beautiful. It’s the show that speaks about shedding the act and being honest with people and ourselves.”
My parting thought is to ask how he’d like to be remembered in theatre, even though he’s still a young actor with a lot to achieve.
“I would definitely like to be remembered as Seneliso Dladla, by my full name because we compromise on who we are too much.
“The black man who came from no privilege and parents, with no money at all who changed theatre forever by showing us that your truth is the truth that we all want to see and will change someone’s life.”