MAN EATER!
MaMlambo wants Nkunzi … and a makeover
Uzalo Weekdays SABC1 (*191) 20:30
Uzalo viewers will sit up and take notice on Wednesday 9 May when it becomes clear that sparks are flying between sangoma MaMlambo (Gugu Gumede) and her chum MaNgcobo’s (Dawn Thandeka King) husband, “reformed” gangster Nkunzi (Masoja Msiza). “We have tried to not make this too obvious to keep the viewers in suspense. You will sense a slight change in tone and interaction between them and that will lead to what I can only call ‘ this shocking romance’,” laughs Gugu. MaNgcobo not only doesn’t notice what’s happening right under her nose, she even decides to play matchmaker for MaMlambo on Thursday 17 May. Perhaps we can forgive MaNgcobo’s distraction – it’s not every day that you bury your first husband for the second time! But “goldilocks” MaMlambo should know better than to try out her friends’ beds… Remember when she put the moves on Pastor Mdletshe (Glen Gabela) in February 2017, only to watch him dump her later to take back his estranged wife MaNzuza (Leleti Khumalo)?
BIG, BAD MAMLAMBO
“I’m not going to support her actions. This is horrible and nasty!” says Gugu. “But I can see how it’s happened. I’ve played MaMlambo for three years and I know her vulnerability and her stress and her mind-set. She’s a good character because she wants happiness. I can ‘understand’ in a way how she’s got to this point where she is doing something she thought she’d never do. She isn’t a fan of Nkunzi after the bombings, the crime, the behaviour. She knows what she’s seen. But she also sees him in a different light. He’s maybe not the bad guy he’s portrayed to be. She sees a change in him and he treats her the way she wants to be treated. It’s a matter of loneliness – they’re two lonely hearts at a crossroads. It’s a case of going for someone who doesn’t fit your type. They’re not what you want, but you find what you need there.”
NEW MAN, NEW ME
As MaMlambo’s neglected heart starts feeling loved, we see her inner beauty emerge, thanks to a sweet salon makeover on Friday 18 May. “It’s a subtle but fitting change. Nkunzi brings a different feel to her. He tells her that she is beautiful. She starts to believe that. Nothing changes a woman like a man who makes her feel that she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. She goes to the salon and tells them, ‘I want to feel good about myself’,” explains Gugu. Behind the scenes, the Uzalo team had to walk a bit of a tightrope with the makeover. “I love braids. I love my hair in a certain way, but that was completely out of question for my character. I’m turning 27 in December and MaMlambo is about 44. We had to give her a sophisticated ‘more adult’ hairstyle. Braids will immediately undo the ageing that her doek does. We had to be careful not to make her too stylish,” laughs the actress. “I had a chat with the wardrobe and production and make-up teams. It’s not an actor’s prerogative to say, ‘I want this, I want that.’ But it helps being in her head to give them a couple of ideas.”
THE SECRET
When we found out about this latest affair, our first thought was: what will the ancestors say? Gugu explains that “there are different callings and different ancestors. MaMlambo is very much focused on her calling, but that doesn’t mean she can’t also look good and feel good.” There will be a hiccup with timing though. “She’s going to ask the ancestors for permission to ‘date’ Nkunzi later. She doesn’t at the start and that’s why there is an obstacle in her way, because she doesn’t undergo that ceremony,” hints Gugu. But after MaNgcobo nearly catches MaMlambo and Nkunzi on Tuesday 22 May, we’d be a bit more worried about some wifely vengeance… MaNgcobo isn’t above pushing a romantic rival over a cliff.