In 2017 Hijinks Theatre and ZikkaZimba Productions collaborated to create and present Taking Flight, an exciting new family show for young audiences. Taking Flight was first performed at St Stithians Preparatory School in February 2017 to a packed audience of 700 students. It officially premiered at the 2017 National Arts Festival. It has since performed at Lebone II Arts Festival, Redhill’s Redfest and sold out all performances at the Hilton Arts Festival. The company was invited to perform at St John’s Preparatory School in Houghton in December 2017 to over 600 students. ZikkaZimba Productions and the University of Johannesburg presented Taking Flight as part of their pre-festive season line up that year. The show enjoyed a successful run at the Con Cowan Theatre. Taking Flight had a successful season at the 2018 National Arts Festival and continued to perform at schools around Gauteng. Audiences young and old have celebrated the work and taken flight with us on our magical journey.

 

Taking Flight pays tribute to Roald Dahl’s early childhood shenanigans. The play was loosely inspired by Dahl’s stories from Boy and allowed audiences to soar through Dahl’s dreamy and grotesque imagination.

 

The show was directed by Kirsten Harris and co-created with Frances Slabolepszy, Jaques de Silva, Katlego Letsholonyana, Megan van Wyk, Ryan Dittmann and Tebogo Machaba (and later performed with Ameera Patel).

 

The cast were nominated for 3 Naledi Theatre Awards in 2018:

 

Best Production for Children

Best Performance in a Production for Young Audiences: Jaques de Silva (Winner)

Best Performance in a Production for Young Audiences: Tebogo Machaba