MAJOR PLAYER

HE State Theatre in Pretoria has three main relationships with the people of greater Tshwane.

For some it’s just the imposing building they burrow past like ants ferrying the daily harvest to their queen.

Then there are the restaurant patrons who never look at the menu. And for some scraggly types it’s the place to visit to speak of their grandiose dreams of stardom and fame.

But for one Mpumalanga native who has made Pretoria her home, Princess Mhlongo, none of those is applicable.

In 2008, at the tender age of 23, Mhlongo came to The State Theatre to conquer it

– to create a job for herself and others.

She directed a play by professor Zakes Mda And the

– Girls in their Sunday Dresses.

That started her on a journey that turned the relatively unknown theatre practitioner into a Standard Bank young artist of the year winner in less than four years.

In 2003, the reigning young artist of the year winner had arrived in Gauteng determined to succeed yet unsure as to what direction she would take.

The following year she enrolled at Tshwane University of Technology to commence her studies while also making herself available to the creative arts industry as a stagehand, stage manager and managing an unknown music band, Travelling Black from Pretoria.

Mhlongo took to theatre like a duck to water and has since made whale-sized waves.

Already her directorial debut, And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses and her first written and

Tdirected offering Trapped has standing invites to tour the UK, Germany and The Netherlands immediately after her National Arts Festival debut as part of the main schedule.

The main programme lists only work commissioned and sponsored by the festival committee.

This means that Mhlongo has, in an extremely short time, achieved what most of her esteemed predecessors die still dreaming about.

Does she sometimes get overawed?

“For my first professional play I had Isidingo darling Lesego Motsepe (Lettie Matabane in the soapie) and for this one I have Rantebeng Makapan (Thomas Mashaba in Generations),” says Mhlongo.

“But I quickly realised that, as director, because I’ve had a longer period of preparation than the actors, I am ahead of them in terms of readiness.

“I just have to use that to calm my nerves and get on with the job.

“There is no manual for directing so I go with the flow – with how I see and feel the story,” she says.

The 26-year-old says she was lucky that a group of Austrians who came to see her work liked it and commissioned it for their festival in August.

Mhlongo says she isn’t fearful about taking her work overseas.

“I just don’t know what to expect,” she says.

“I just have to be prepared for all eventualities.”

Trapped is a fantastical drama set in an abandoned museum and, as in Night at the Museum, the characters come alive.

But then Mhlongo’s characters tell the story of freedom in South Africa and what it means to them.

Trapped shows on the stage at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from June 28 to July 8.

Then Mhlongo travels to Germany for the performances of And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses.

“We ’ re touring Europe until almost the end of the year but we come back in between runs,” she says.

But with all this success in foreign lands, Mhlongo still yearns for an opportunity to show her skills to her home audience in Mpumalanga.

“I can be at The State Theatre and travel abroad but I really want to present something to my people back home one day,” she says.