BLOOD PSALMS’S LETSHA
Naked, bald and raving, Mothusi Magano plays out the Akashi tribe’s King Letsha in a slow descent into madness in African fantasy series Blood Psalms. As the series begins, moments after the birth of his daughter, King Letsha murders his wife in a sinister blood pact. In the present, he dreams of fire raining down on a burning world as a dragon torches him to a crisp.
“He’s Shakespearean. Even the language in Blood Psalms has that higher sense to it. It’s Shakespearean Setswana,” says Mothusi. “Tragic Letsha is haunted by terrible things he’s done and keeps doing. He feels like he carries the world alone and like people are constantly manipulating him. He’s a tortured soul, with daddy issues. I get to go crazy,” he says happily.
Despite the warrior-like posturing in the series and all the fearsome costumes, Mothusi saw a different side of war on set: “We were filming a battle scene in the Eastern Cape. It was freezing and had to rain during the battle, so we were drenched as well. Everybody’s supposed to look fierce, but every time the director called ‘Cut’, all these big, bad soldiers ran straight to the trailers!” he jokes.
• Watch Blood Psalms season 1 Wednesdays on Showmax.