Article by Naledi Mfoloe
Actor of The Week goes to the formidable actor Masasa Mbangeni who is a South African actress best known for her starring role as the arch-villain Thembeka Shezi on the e.tv soapie Scandal!.
She was nominated twice for Best Actress in a TV Soap at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) for her role on Scandal! (2014 and 2015), winning the award in 2015. Prior to her role on Scandal! she’s had two television guest appearances: as Jackie’s PA on the M-Net soapie Egoli and as Eunice on the BBC crime drama Silent Witness.
She currently plays the character of Bridget on The Republic, who is the spokesperson for The President (Flo Masebe)
In this scene we are introduced to Bridget who is having what seems to be a heart to heart conversation with Mkhuseleli (played by Bongile Mantasi) who in this scene shares vulnerable information about himself in a manipulative way to get Bridget to lower her guard down, confessing that he is a broken man. It is here that we recognize the art of “stillness”, we get to see that even with the tears and theatrics that Mkhuseleli throws to get Bridget to believe his narrative, she still has some level of discernment to make her own judgement and that is revealed in her level of stillness in the scene this allows her to be more aware of his conniving and narcissistic ways, she doesn’t say much but her body communicates everything that we need to know. As an audience we recognise the inner turmoil/conflict she’s going through, it is through the intensity of her eyes she takes us on an emotional journey with her she lets us into the characters train of thoughts, and feelings. In other words the subtext of the scene, which she portrays so beautifully using body language. It’s in this moment where she’s having the confrontation with Mkhuluseleli where we come to realise that stillness is where all things can be known and we notice that, because Bridget gains more mindfulness as the scene progresses and in turn she’s able to draw us in even more as an audience into her world of story by her simple and subtle eye movements with slight parting of her lips that reveals to us that she’s more confident and very much grounded and set in her decision.
It is in the juxtaposition between the subtleness and intensity of her performance that makes her worthy in being Actor of the week!
