Budding actress scores big in Cape Town competition
A Pearson High School pupil and aspiring actress’s star shone bright at the weekend, catching the judges’ attention at the 2021 National Acting Competition held in Cape Town.
Kalene Botha, 18, placed number one in the national competition’s poetry segment and the budding actress secured herself a spot in the top eight best drama performers and a radio drama role at Bok Radio.
The youngster is excelling in her academics as well, having obtained distinctions in eight subjects — including drama and languages — in her first term of matric.
Kalene competed alongside 59 other high school pupils who were invited to participate in the final four rounds at the Artscape Theatre.
The award for poetry was a result of a last-minute choice, she said.
She had been contemplating the best poem to perform and picked Edward Brock’s Five Ways To Kill A Man.
“I was actually contemplating whether I should perform my Afrikaans poem but at the last minute I decided to switch to Five Ways To Kill A Man.
“I am happy with the choice I made because I might have not won the prize if I had stuck with my first option,” Kalene said.
She will return to Cape Town at a later stage to perform the radio drama role at Bok Radio.
The theatre actress also had her first film acting experience, auditioning for Suidooster on KykNET during the competition.
“We were given a script and literally had five minutes to learn the script, go off script and film.
“I had never done film before, so it was an amazing experience,” she said.
Kalene started drama studies at the Creative Arts and Music Academy when she was only eight.
She now takes drama as an extra subject at school and trains with Bay drama teacher Linda-Louise Swain.
“My mom says I’ve always been a little drama queen since I was a little girl.
“I would watch cartoons on TV and copy their accents, mimic their movements and facial expression.
“I think that’s when my parents knew it was time to take me to drama school,” she said.
She has also played the main character in her school’s production of Footloose.
“That was the moment drama won my heart and I knew this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Kalene said.
She plans to study drama theatre at Stellenbosch University in 2022.
She dreams of hosting the KykNET show, Boer Soek ’n Vrou, and starring in a KykNET film.
“I would also like to direct and film my own TV film and write scripts for theatre,” she said.