Dear Tata heads beyond Makhanda on self-funded tour

Mava Gqeba has finished his run at this year’s National Arts Festival in Makhanda, but for him, Dear Tata… What Makes a Man a Man? is only getting started. The actor, musician and writer plans to take the one-man production on a national tour, funding it himself while continuing to work as a teacher.

Presented as a series of letters to his father, the production follows Gqeba’s journey from childhood into adulthood through storytelling, live music and movement. The autobiographical work explores masculinity, identity and family, drawing on his own experiences.

The production was not the project Gqeba originally intended to debut. He had been developing a Broadway-inspired work before deciding that his first major production should tell a more personal story.

Writing Dear Tata took about a year.

“I had to process so much to get it out,” he said. “But yeah, it worked, and we’re here now.”

The show premiered in 2023, earning a Bronze Ovation, before touring East London and other cities in 2025. Gqeba said this year’s National Arts Festival run was always intended to introduce the production to wider audiences ahead of a longer journey beyond Makhanda.

That journey comes with a significant personal cost.

Working as a teacher in what he describes as his first stable job, Gqeba says almost all of his salary goes back into producing theatre. While many of his peers are buying cars or moving into their own homes, he has chosen to invest in building his career instead.

He does not describe the sacrifices as something he faces alone. His family, he says, has consistently supported his ambitions.

“It would be a very much different story if I had a family that was like, no, go stand on your own,” he said.

His experience reflects a wider reality for many independent theatre-makers in South Africa, where artists often finance productions themselves while balancing full-time employment. Public funding opportunities remain limited and highly competitive, leaving many emerging performers to carry much of the financial risk of staging new work.

Even as he prepares to tour Dear Tata, Gqeba is already looking ahead. He hopes to return to the National Arts Festival in 2027 with new work, including a revival of Faith in Love, the one-man production that received an Ovation nomination in 2024, alongside a jazz concert titled If Jazz Be the Food of Love. He is also developing another production.

For emerging artists, Gqeba believes waiting for support is the wrong place to begin.

“There are plenty of helping hands,” he said. “However, those people help people who are already working. Start it yourself, sacrifice, and make sure that the dream you want to see come to fruition, you bring it to fruition.”