Some of South Africa’s biggest names in music and comedy take to the intimate Delta Park stage as The Whirlwind unveils its October, November and December programme.
Some of South Africa’s biggest names in music, comedy and jazz are heading to The Whirlwind Theatre in Johannesburg’s Delta Park, as the intimate venue rolls out a formidable spring and summer programme.
October alone brings Arno Carstens, Chris Chameleon, acclaimed jazz pianist Luyanda Madope and his trio, popular father-and-daughter duo Adrian & Emma-Jean Galliard, and four of the country’s comedy heavy-hitters in Richelieu Beaunoir, Nina Hastie, Mojak Lehoko and Jason Goliath.
And that is just October.
November and December will see Henry Ate, Tim Plewman, Nina Hastie, Bobby Louw, the Linden CPF Comedy Night, another Comedy in the Park, and a special Christmas edition of the comedy series take to The Whirlwind stage.
The line-up is something of a coup for a theatre that only opened its doors this year. The Whirlwind has been brought to life by entertainment industry veteran Tabitha Hoy, arts and entertainment specialist Bridget van Oerle, and award-winning comedian and chef Chris Forrest. Created by Tabitha Hoy and Bridget van Oerle, The Whirlwind was established to help fill the gap left by the disappearance of smaller performance spaces and to create a home where theatre, music, comedy and community events could share the same stage.
Comedy in the Park brings out the heavy hitters
On Saturday, 10 October, the birds make way for laughs when Comedy in the Park returns with a powerhouse line-up of Richelieu Beaunoir, Nina Hastie, Mojak Lehoko and Jason Goliath.
Between them, the four represent a broad sweep of contemporary South African comedy, from stand-up and satire to television, writing, acting and presenting.
Beaunoir is a comedian, writer, actor and MC and a former Comedy Central Roast Battle champion. Hastie has built a career spanning stand-up, television, radio, acting and writing. Lehoko is an award-winning comedian and writer whose credits include Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola, while Goliath has built a career across stand-up, television, acting and presenting, including performances on international comedy stages.
Comedy has been part of The Whirlwind’s DNA from the beginning, with its Comedy in the Park format bringing established and emerging South African comedians into the intimate venue.
The restaurant and bar open at 5pm, with the show starting at 7pm. Tickets are R180 and R120, and the show is for audiences aged 16 and over.
Arno Carstens: where music and art meet
On Saturday, 17 October, one of the most recognisable names in South African music comes to The Whirlwind.
Arno Carstens has been a defining force in South Africa’s contemporary cultural landscape for more than three decades, first rising to prominence as the charismatic frontman of Springbok Nude Girls before establishing an acclaimed solo career. His eight solo albums include his multi-platinum 2003 debut, Another Universe, while his latest release, AC/ES, has earned two South African Music Award nominations.
But music is only one part of Carstens’ creative life.
Working primarily in oil on canvas, Carstens is also an accomplished visual artist, and his latest body of work, Immortal Blooms, explores the traditional still life in a distinctly unconventional way.
Carstens begins with the idea of flowers rather than flowers themselves. As he paints, colour becomes creature, composition becomes character and something unexpected begins to emerge from the canvas.
In the artist’s words:
“A still life is never still. Spirits hide in everything. If you look hard enough they reveal themselves, and the communication happens through the symbols they represent to you in that moment.”
What begins as a still life, he says, invariably develops a narrative of its own.
“My intention starts in one place, doing a ‘still life,’ but it always ends up full of stories, as if the brush cannot stop the birth of character. So I listen, and I project what my creations expect of me.”
It is perhaps an apt description of an artist whose own creative career has never remained within a single discipline.
“I do not paint from real flowers. I paint from the thought of a still life.”
At The Whirlwind, audiences will have an opportunity to experience both sides of Carstens’ creative world: the musician whose work has formed part of the South African soundtrack for decades, and the painter whose work draws on the same instinct for storytelling.
Chris Chameleon brings Hartloop to The Whirlwind
Less than a week later, on Friday, 23 October, another of South Africa’s most distinctive musical talents takes to The Whirlwind stage when Chris Chameleon presents Hartloop.
Chameleon first made his name as the frontman and bassist of cult band Boo!, before embarking on a solo career distinguished by his extraordinary vocal range, theatricality and ability to move between musical styles and languages.
With Hartloop, Chameleon returns to the album with which he began his solo career and uses it as the starting point for a new journey through the landscape of the heart.
Stories, poetry and songs are woven together into an intimate performance about the way a heart moves through a life.
Hartloop explores love, loss and memory, and the idea that every song, every love and every loss becomes another heartbeat in a much larger story.
A journey in jazz with The Luyanda Madope Trio
The following day, Saturday, 24 October, the tempo changes again as The Luyanda Madope Trio brings Jazz Night to The Whirlwind.
Led by pianist and composer Luyanda Madope, the trio brings together Sipho “SJ” Malinga and Mzwandile Kunene for what they describe simply as:
“A journey in jazz. Depth. Sensitivity. Connection.”
Madope is an accomplished South African musician whose work spans jazz, composition, arranging, performance and musical direction. Together, the three musicians work within the classic intimacy of the jazz trio, where improvisation, musicianship and the conversation between players become central to the performance.
Adrian & Emma-Jean swing into summer
October closes on Sunday, 25 October with a homecoming for popular father-and-daughter duo Adrian & Emma-Jean Galliard, fresh from acclaimed performances in the UK.
Their August concerts in Notting Hill and Reigate marked another milestone in a musical partnership that began unexpectedly during lockdown in 2020, when Adrian and his then 11-year-old daughter Emma-Jean uploaded a home recording of Andrea Bocelli and Céline Dion’s The Prayer to Facebook. Within days it had attracted hundreds of thousands of views, before being shared internationally by The Music Man and reaching millions more.
The pair have since built a growing live following, including a successful run of Striking a Chord at Theatre on the Square in 2025 and sold-out performances at the Hilton Arts Festival in 2024 and their UK audiences being equally enthusiastic.
At The Whirlwind, Swinging Into Summer with Adrian & Emma-Jean will move between swing and jazz standards, light classical favourites, musical theatre and contemporary pop, combining their distinctive harmonies with the humour and relaxed father-daughter banter that has become part of their live performances.
The Whirlwind Theatre Café will be open for lunch from 1pm, ahead of the 3pm performance. The show runs for approximately 90 minutes with an interval and is suitable for all ages.
It rounds out an October programme that moves confidently between genres, from comedy and rock to visual art, storytelling, jazz and musical theatre.
And there is plenty more to come
October may carry some serious star power, but The Whirlwind is not slowing down in November.
On Saturday, 7 November, Henry Ate comes to the theatre.
Formed in Johannesburg in the 1990s and led by singer-songwriter Karma-Ann Swanepoel, Henry Ate became one of the defining sounds of a transformative period in South African music, producing songs including Just, Hey Mister, Black Confetti and Mother.
Anyone hoping to get a ticket, however, has missed their chance: Henry Ate is already sold out.
The Linden CPF Comedy Night follows on Saturday, 14 November, before Comedy in the Park returns on Saturday, 21 November.
Musician Bobby Louw performs on Sunday, 22 November, while the end of the month belongs to one of South African theatre’s most enduring performers, Tim Plewman, with performances scheduled for 27, 28 and 29 November.
An actor, writer, director, producer and humourist, Plewman has enjoyed a stage career spanning decades. He remains particularly well known for the phenomenal South African success of Defending the Caveman, although his body of work extends across comedy, drama, musicals, film and television.
Nina Hastie takes over December
December brings Nina Hastie back to The Whirlwind for a run from 1 to 8 December.
Hastie has built a career across stand-up comedy, television, radio, writing and acting, establishing herself as one of the country’s most recognisable contemporary comedy voices.
The Whirlwind then brings its scheduled 2026 programme towards a suitably irreverent festive close on Saturday, 12 December, with Comedy in the Park – Xmas.
Big names, intimate theatre
Part of The Whirlwind’s appeal is its scale.
Set within the Delta Environmental Centre in Delta Park, Victory Park, the theatre seats just 185 people, giving audiences the opportunity to see artists more usually associated with considerably larger stages in an unusually intimate environment.
The venue also has an on-site pop-up restaurant and licensed bar, parking for 70 cars and a Drop & Go facility. The Whirlwind is designed as somewhere audiences can make an afternoon or evening of a performance, rather than simply arriving as the lights go down. Its welcoming café serves burgers, toasted sandwiches, light meals and refreshments, with a fully licensed bar also on site. Depending on the performance, audiences can arrive early, have something to eat and a drink, and settle into the relaxed surroundings of Delta Park before the show begins.
Bookings for The Whirlwind Theatre’s October, November and December programme are open through Quicket. With an intimate 185-seat capacity, and Henry Ate already sold out, audiences are encouraged to book early.
Book tickets on Quicket
OCTOBER AT A GLANCE
- 10 October: Comedy in the Park – Richelieu Beaunoir, Nina Hastie, Mojak Lehoko & Jason Goliath | Restaurant & bar 5pm | Show 7pm
- 17 October: Arno Carstens
- 23 October: Chris Chameleon – Hartloop
- 24 October: Jazz Night – The Luyanda Madope Trio: Luyanda Madope, Sipho “SJ” Malinga & Mzwandile Kunene
- 25 October: Swinging Into Summer with Adrian & Emma-Jean | Café open for lunch 1pm | Show 3pm
