{"id":107104,"date":"2026-10-10T16:19:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woordfees.co.za\/uncategorized\/interview-matthew-gray\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T16:26:14","slug":"interview-matthew-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woordfees.co.za\/en\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\/interview-matthew-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Matthew Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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SPIER THEATRE<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Doomsday and Wonder with Matthew Gray<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Produksie: The Second Coming <\/strong>and Wonder in Woorde\/Words<\/strong>
Deur: Steyn du Toit<\/strong>
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In one week at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, Matthew Gray<\/strong><\/span> barred a church door against the apocalypse, then opened the door to a world of stories for a hall full of schoolchildren. Steyn du Toit<\/strong><\/span> spoke to the actor, director and MFM 92.6 presenter about The Second Coming<\/em>, Wonder in Woorde\/Words<\/em> and what comes next.<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Catching Matthew Gray these days means catching him in transit. I met him backstage at the HMS Bloemhof school hall, already in costume, after a full day of broadcasting and festival admin. That fits a performer whose work spans stage, screen, radio and the MC\u2019s microphone. This week, the focus is on two productions that grew out of the Stellenbosch University Drama Department. <\/p>

The first, The Second Coming<\/em>, started as the final performance creation piece of his undergraduate degree in Drama and Theatre Studies. \u201cIt\u2019s basically a culmination of everything we\u2019ve learned,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe purpose of it is to create a performance with a group completely on your own.\u201d <\/p>

The group of seven first wrote a script and then took it to the floor, with Kimi de Beer and Mateo Komlosy as writers and Dr Andr\u00e9 Gerber as facilitator. The breakthrough came with a central conflict. Pope Innocence decrees that the church door must never be opened. Then a young woman, Ru, comes knocking. \u201cHis flaw is lust. He wants a young lady in the congregation with them. Therefore he opens the door, and Ru starts spiralling the whole thing out of control. That\u2019s where the engine came into play.\u201d <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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His virtue is that he\u2019s exceptionally empathetic,\u201d Matthew says. \u201cHe understands the way that people do things for their own gain or to attain power. He just doesn\u2019t say anything, because it\u2019s entertaining for him. He enjoys watching people destroy themselves. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Matthew\u2019s own character, Ted Kowalski, was inspired by Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber. Ted is self-destructive and longs for an ending that never comes. He sits in a wheelchair on stage before the audience enters and still there when the lights go out. \u201cHis virtue is that he\u2019s exceptionally empathetic,\u201d Matthew says. \u201cHe understands the way that people do things for their own gain or to attain power. He just doesn\u2019t say anything, because it\u2019s entertaining for him. He enjoys watching people destroy themselves.\u201d <\/p>

That wheelchair also solved a practical problem for a man co-directing a play he never leaves. \u201cI would just leave the wheelchair on stage, step out and watch us play,\u201d he explains. The cast delivered their lines to the empty chair, \u201cmeaning I was always in two places at once\u201d. Kimi, who acts in some scenes but not others, directed the ones she isn\u2019t in. <\/p>

Although the play is in English, Afrikaans has its place. Kimi plays Susana Magdalena, a staunch Afrikaner who drops in the odd Afrikaans word. Her intended husband, Richard Dambuza, is just as emphatically Xhosa. They never make it to the altar and end up killing each other. \u201cNo one\u2019s safe. We take the mickey out of everyone, including Afrikaans tannies,\u201d Matthew says. \u201cIt adds to the universality of it.\u201d <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Matthew and Kimi share the directing credit, with Taylor Ackermann on design and Kgahlisho Matloga and Lutho Ndyalvane leading warm-ups. Still, he insists on the collective. \u201cYou can slap titles on us, put placards on us, whatever, but it\u2019s a group effort at the end of the day.\u201d <\/p>

The play is set in Revelation and follows the last six people on earth as they try to start a \u201cchurch of the purged world\u201d. \u201cThose that are in power become corrupt, and those that impeach them unfortunately take the same positions and become as corrupt as they were,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a comment on human nature.\u201d <\/p>

Bringing raptures, demons and seven-headed dragons to an Afrikaans festival stage made the group \u201chyper-aware\u201d, but they committed fully. \u201cTheatre is daunting, daring and dangerous, so one should always be a little bit on edge,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you shy away from it, it tends to bite you back. But if you really go all the way, it\u2019s surprising how softly it lands.\u201d <\/p>

For the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, the writers added a confrontation between Pope Innocence and the character Ashley to build towards her sacrifice. Heila Hugo joined as stage manager, and the company added more blood. It worked. \u201cWhen that first death scene happened, the gasp was huge,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to stop myself from smiling in the wheelchair.\u201d The group now hopes to take the production to the KKNK in Oudtshoorn. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Child-like is what we use when we play like children, but childish is when it has a little bit of immaturity to it. That\u2019s what we wanted to try and lose <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wonder in Woorde\/Words<\/em> came from a very different place: Matthew\u2019s Honours year in Voice and Speech, a specialisation Stellenbosch University has reintroduced for the first time since 2019. He very nearly chose cabaret instead. With that application filled out and his finger hovering over the submit button, he phoned his parents. \u201cI said, \u2018My passion lies with communication. It\u2019s the sound of the voice, it\u2019s using yourself to express yourself through your voice.\u2019\u201d A childhood knack for accents and storytelling settled it. <\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s been a very experimental year,\u201d he says. \u201cThat is the nature of Wonder<\/em>.\u201d Under applied theatre practitioner Amelda Brand, six students devised a children\u2019s work from material compiled by Mareli Hattingh Pretorius. The aim was to engage young audiences without talking down to them. \u201cChild-like is what we use when we play like children, but childish is when it has a little bit of immaturity to it. That\u2019s what we wanted to try and lose.\u201d <\/p>

The production moves between Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa, and that is where the voice training came in. \u201cI\u2019m English first-speaking. I can speak Afrikaans, well, I\u2019d like to think, and isiXhosa is a stretch for me. I speak better Zulu than I do isiXhosa,\u201d he admits. \u201cYour mouth moves in a way that you\u2019re not used to, and your breath is used very differently.\u201d His castmate Lihle Ngcawe, a first-language isiXhosa speaker, faced the same challenge in reverse. \u201cIt\u2019s all about adapting.\u201d <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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It opens with the cast fooling about in a changing room to \u201cCareless Whisper\u201d, a sign that nothing is off-limits. \u201cAudiences can expect to be shocked, to laugh, to see themselves, and to get angry, curious or empathetic,\u201d he says. <\/p>

In 2027, Matthew plans to stay in Stellenbosch, presenting, MCing and auditioning while touring his work. The aim is to keep Poppycock<\/em>, The Second Coming<\/em> and Carrion Communion<\/em> alive in Cape Town theatres and at festivals such as the KKNK, the Suidoosterfees and the National Arts Festival. Above all, he wants to take them home to KwaZulu-Natal. \u201cA big goal of mine next year is to go to the Hilton Arts Festival, hopefully with all three productions.\u201d <\/p>

After that comes what he calls a \u201chard reset\u201d: travel, new people, new experiences. \u201cI believe there\u2019s a lot to learn in just doing.\u201d <\/p>

Whatever the stage, his compass stays the same. \u201cMy mission is to entertain, to motivate and to inspire. If I can do just one of those three things every single time I do something, I know I\u2019m on the right track.\u201d <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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His favourite moment is a nightmare sequence of scary stories. As the actors tell a tale around a campfire, including a poem about an aggressive cat, Amy Olivier and Lea Steenkamp bring it to life with crates behind them. \u201cWe speak the story, they show the story.\u201d The monsters attack, the performers fall asleep, and they wake to the Afro house track \u201cVuka\u201d for a dance number. In a solo diary entry, Matthew blames a falling book for his muddled thinking, delivered in a broad Durban accent. \u201cEveryone always loves it.\u201d <\/p>

At Woordfees, the first audience was invested but reserved. \u201cWe could feel they were with us, but they weren\u2019t laughing, they weren\u2019t gasping. The second audience erupted. They were loud, cheering, laughing, gasping, screaming and talking back to us.\u201d <\/p>

After the production\u2019s run at the Suidoosterfees, Woordfees creative head Saartjie Botha invited it onto the children\u2019s programme. \u201cWe were like, \u2018Hell yeah, let\u2019s get in there. This will be fun.\u2019\u201d Alongside Matthew, the cast includes Torden van Rensburg, Aidan Davies, Lea Steenkamp, Amy Olivier and Lihle Ngcawe. <\/p>

Next up is Poppycock<\/em>, an idea that began in his first year among his circle of drama friends. \u201cWe were teasing the idea of what if we did a play that was just the boys?\u201d With none of them speaking Afrikaans as a first language, it felt like a pipe dream. After a false start at a State Theatre talent platform, Gerber suggested an all-boys cabaret for the Premi\u00e8re Festival. The result is a sketch comedy about straight Gen Z masculinity in South Africa, and it won Best Ensemble. The title came from looking up synonyms for \u201cnonsense\u201d, with a cheeky double meaning the boys couldn\u2019t resist. <\/p>

Matthew Gray presents AM2PM on MFM 92.6 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 09:00 to 12:00.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPoppycock <\/strong>
14 & 16 OCT 17:00 | 15 OCT 18:30 | 17 OCT 16:30
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<\/i> Steyn du Toit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3799,"featured_media":107102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[613,819,824],"tags":[817],"class_list":["post-107104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spier-theatre","category-ink-feeskoerant-2026","category-fringe","tag-woordfees-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview: Matthew Gray - Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/woordfees.co.za\/en\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\/interview-matthew-gray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview: Matthew Gray - Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steyn du Toit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/woordfees.co.za\/en\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\/interview-matthew-gray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/woordfees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-10T14:19:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-10T16:26:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/woordfees.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/INK-banner107.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"INK Redaksie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Woordfees\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Woordfees\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"INK Redaksie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"INK Redaksie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4fa89144f1f64e8103a71de1d4d44c47\"},\"headline\":\"Interview: Matthew Gray\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-10T14:19:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-10T16:26:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1577,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/INK-banner107.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Woordfees 2026\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Spier Theatre\",\"INK Feeskoerant 2026\",\"Fringe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/woordfees.co.za\\\/en\\\/ink-feeskoerant-2026\\\/interview-matthew-gray\\\/\",\"name\":\"Interview: Matthew Gray - 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