Cape Town-based Isango Ensemble and Advantage Entertainment have joined forces once again with London's Film and Music Entertainment on a brand new project, as well as a development slate for further films. The news comes hard on the heels of the announcement last week that Fortissimo Films have taken on international sales for their most recent co-venture Breathe-Umphefumlo an adaptation of Puccini's La Boheme, which has its world premiere in Official Selection - Berlinale Special tomorrow.
Further to the partnership on La Boheme, the three companies will co-produce another classic from the canon of music John Gay's The Beggar's Opera to shoot in Cape Town in August.
The Beggar's Opera, (Ibali Loo Tstotsi) loosely inspired by the very first ever musical' by John Gay. This time Isango will transport Gay's 1728 satire/morality play to the jazzy Dockland underworld of 1950's Cape Town - a place where nobody plays by the rules, least of all Macheath - bandit, hedonist, superhero to some, villain to others. Macheath has married Polly Peachum. But he fancies Lucy Lockit. Lucy Lockit fancies Macheath, but Polly doesnt want to share. Mr Peachum wants Macheaths head, and so does Mr Lockit. And so does the law. With so many enemies, its hard to tell who your friends are.
In this new version by leading South African/British musical director Mark Dornford May, who won the Golden Bear in Berlin for his township adaptation of Bizet's Carmen - U Carmen eKhayelitsha (also sold by Fortissimo), the old story is given new life in this dark, seedy, absurd, visually rich and cruelly comic world where men are men, women are women - and it's dog eat dog!
The Beggar's Opera, said Dornford-May, is a savagely funny satire on money, morals and marriage, -as relevant and biting today as it was when first written. Setting the film in post war colonial Cape Town will give it a visual style and a music flair that will inform the original - and take it further.
Of the stage show - The Guardian noted: succeeds in catching the works switch in tone from carnivalesque to mock tragedy...I felt the work had acquired an urgent, specifically South African resonance... the singing is magnificent... I came out having had a thoroughly good time.
2015 will also see the Isango Company follow up their sell-out 2014 US tour with another visit to the United States, as well as an invitation to return to Paris in 2016 to revive their hugely successful stage version of Carmen at the site of its original performance at the Opera Comique in Paris. Discussions are also underway with the Benjamin Britten Foundation to stage Britten's seminal adaptation (with a book by Peter Pears) of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
We have a number of other film ideas in development, said F&ME producer Mike Downey, and we will be pursuing these over the period that we will be making The Beggar's Opera, including a unique idea Mark has to adapt Bram Stoker's Dracula to a South African context. What is unusual and unique about the Isango Company, is that unlike other film collaborations it is a constant and ongoing creative hothouse of theatre, music and ideas which are constantly being work-shopped and developed, making it a rich creative and inspiring seam of potential movies.
About Isango Ensemble
The South African company Isango Ensemble is based in Cape Town. The core of the company was formed by director Mark Dornford-May and music director and singer Pauline Malefane in 2000. The company predominantly draws performers from across the townships surrounding the city. The company's work to date has focused on re-imagining classics from the Western theatre canon, finding a new context for the stories within a South African or township setting, and creating new work, which is relevant to the heritage of the nation. www.isangoensemble.com
About Film and Music Entertainment
Co-founded by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor in 2000, Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) is a UK independent production company. Over the last 15 years, the company has produced more than 50 feature films, along with company chairman and four - time Academy Award nominee, Stephen Daldry. F&ME's extraordinarily eclectic catalogue has become synonymous over the years with the production of quality international feature films from a wide variety of British, European, American, South African and Antipodean authors including his partnership with the VICE group: WHITE LIGHTNIN', Saul Metzstein's, Jason Biggs starrer GUY X, DEATHWATCH (Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis), U.S. Academy Award nominated and Venice Golden Lion winning BEFORE THE RAIN and a slew of international co-productions written by Nobel Prize Winner G nter Grass, Schindler's List author Thomas Keneally, the Demon Dog that is James Ellroy and Clifford (HOAX) Irving. His award winning South African production SON OF MAN, premiered at Sundance, as did WHITE LIGHTNIN' while LOVING GLANCES, opened the Venice Film Festival. His production of Mohsen Makhmalbaf's THE PRESIDENT also opened the 2014 Venice Film Festival.
About Advantage Entertainment
Founded and run by Vlokkie Gordon, ADVANTAGE ENTERTAINMENT has a close association with Silverline360 - http://silverline360.com (Media Film Services, Searle Street Post, The Refinery and Movie Mart). Advantage's alliance with South Africa's largest and pre-eminent Film Studio, Equipment Hire Company and Post-Production Facility places the company in the unique position to provide the full suite of production services, and offers the value add of sourcing SA finance. The company is based at Cape Town Film Studios. In a career spanning 30 years in the entertainment industry, and numerous international co-productions, as a producer her specific skill-set is Finance Struc
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Cape Town-based Isango Ensemble and Advantage Entertainment have joined forces once again with London's Film and Music Entertainment on a brand new project, as well as a development slate for further films. The news comes hard on the heels of the announcement last week that Fortissimo Films have taken on international sales for their most recent co-venture Breathe-Umphefumlo an adaptation of Puccini's La Boheme, which has its world premiere in Official Selection - Berlinale Special tomorrow.
