With their colourful clothes and painted faces, two mimes are bringing smiles to the faces of motorists caught in traffic at a busy intersection in Kraaifontein.
Some thespians are lucky enough to tread the boards at the Artscape theatre, but Lucky Ncube, 28, and Abriza Chikanya, 27, of Wallacedene, call the busy intersection on Brighton and Van Riebeeck roads their stage; their audience is traffic, and lots of it.
They spend up to nine hours a day standing in frozen poses at the traffic lights, waiting for loose change to be tossed from a car window.
It’s hard finding work if you’re a high-school dropout, say the two young fathers, but they’re determined to do what it takes to provide for their families.
Neither of them moved or spoke when Northern News asked for a picture, that is until a R10 note and a few coins were produced.
Lucky, the formally dressed mime, has two small children.
“I use this money to put food on my table every night, so that my family can eat, and the other money is for buying powder paint for our faces.”
He says he can paint and draw well but struggles to find work in that field.
He has been a mime for two years and says he’s doing it until he can find a full-time job.
Abriza, whose “stage presence” is more that of a clown, is new to the miming game. He enjoys it, he says, but does not think of it as a long-term job.
He hopes to find something more permanent in the new year.
Cars hooted for the mimes and they ran off to get payment for their performance and show off a dance move or two to their fans.