Quack! and other stories is a new sketch show by comedian and theatre-maker, Sophie Joans.
This series of short stories and sketches explore dark truths. It is as unsettling as it is funny.
The creative team includes some of the freshest voices in South Africa’s entertainment scene.
Directed by long-time friend and collaborator, Tshiamo Moretlwe (writer and performer of Filled - National Arts Festival Ovation Award), lighting design by the indomitable Juliette Rose-Innes (director and creator of the smash-hit Baked Shakespeare), with creative inputs and all online content created by the utterly unhinged (in all the best ways) Shannon Hendry (Mlungu... which is the name of a play she wrote. Not her nickname FYI).
With writing contributions from Andi Colombo, Jefferson Tshabalala (and Shannon, Tshiamo and Juliette, as well as guest appearances from Phil de Lange (Comic’s Choice Award-winner), Khanyisile Ngenwya (Savannah Best Newcomer Award 2025) and the Hitchcocks (Emily and Callum - also a Savannah Best Newcomer in 2024). It's going to be a smorgasbord of weird, dark and funny.
Sophie Joans is a clown, comedian, theatre-maker and trouble-maker with a passion for live performance. Her debut solo show, ÎLE, received enormous acclaim, both at home and internationally, winning the Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in 2022 and was one of 5 nominees for the Filipa Bragança Award for Best Solo Female Performers at Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 (out of 3800 shows). She’s played Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Maynardville, and The Imp in Brett Bailey’s Summer Night’s Dream. She co-wrote & performed in puppet show, Ka-Boom, which was awarded UNIMA SA’s Incubation Prize. Her two clown shows AÏo (directed by Aldo Brincat) and ÜÜÜ (directed by Rob Van Vuuren), were experimental. That’s all she’ll say about that. When she’s not performing, Sophie loves teaching and regularly teaches storytelling, clown and writing.
Her new show NETPHLIX won an Ovation Award at NAF 2025 and toured around the country and world. This year she also released her first stand-up special, Sophie Joans is a Real Comedian.
Tshiamo Moretlwe is an award-winning actress, voice-over artist, puppeteer, and theatre-maker. A University of Cape Town Theatre and Performance graduate with Distinction, she has performed internationally across South Africa, the USA, Hungary, and Venezuela, and has lent her voice to projects including Penguin Audio's Moxyland. Her work has been recognised with two Standard Bank Ovation Awards, for the youth theatre production KA-BOOM! and her solo show Filled, with Filled also earning a 2026 nomination for Outstanding Literary Contribution at KKNK.