Tholwana Dyosopu is a singer-songwriter who has applied her musical talents to creating new versions of a series of Shakespeare's sonnets. She is the Resident Artist for 2026 at the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre (TCC) at Wits University. In this episode, the first of two instalments, TCC Director Chris Thurman joins Tholwana for a studio session to talk about her work and to listen in as she records some of her new compositions.

We kick off Season 3 with eminent South African Shakespearean David Schalkwyk. He talks to Chris Thurman about prison writing, Shakespeare on Robben Island, a new production of Twelfth Night at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre in Cape Town, Uys Krige's Afrikaans translation of the play (Twaalfde Nag), and why David thinks Shakespeare is best performed without a director. Along the way, inspired by the fool Feste, there is music from Noël Coward and Jacques Brel.

In this episode, doyenne of the South African stage Fiona Ramsay sits down with TCC Director Chris Thurman as she prepares to perform in Blonde Poison at the Drama Factory. They talk about the role of Stella in Blonde Poison (for which Ramsay earned a Fleur du Cap award) and then get onto matters Shakespearean ... from Ramsay's recent appearance as Elizabeth / Caesar in Abrahamse Meyer Productions' Julius Caesar to her work with students in Wits University's Theatre and Performance programme.