Written and performed by Modise Sekgothe, directed by Mahlatsi Mokgonyana and scored live by multi-instrumentalist Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist Phumla Siyobi, Gabo Legwala is a poetic-theatre ritual of memory, masculinity, and survival. Through music, poetry, and story-telling, we journey with the young Modise and his childhood friends as they stumble toward manhood without the map of a father’s example.

Modise Sekgothe is winner of the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Poetry.
Borrowing from the subtitle of Jefferson Tshabalala’s Poet-O-Type, Gabo Legwala is “a memoir disguised as a poem, masquerading as a [play].” Written and performed by Modise Sekgothe, directed by Mahlatsi Mokgonyana (Theatre Duo & Co.), and scored live by multi-instrumentalist Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist Phumla Siyobi, Gabo Legwala is a poetic-theatre ritual of memory, masculinity, and survival.

Set in Devland, Soweto, the work follows a group of boys – fatherless, restless and ever-stumbling.