Shrapnel by Natalie Gamsu and Ash Flanders, 2023-2024, fortyfivedownstairs, Hayes Theatre, Brunswick Ballroom

An evening of storytelling, music, and yearning to find the flamenco dancer inside, SHRAPNEL, is an autobiographical theatrical work created by Natalie Gamsu, director Stephen Nicolazzo, and dramaturg Ash Flanders.

Gamsu grew up in Namibia in the 60’s, as far away from being a flamenco dancer as one could possibly get. A country that was colonized by the British, the Germans and by the South African government.

She grew up under the apartheid regime, went to boarding school in Cape Town, performed in underground nightclubs during the state of emergencies, and searched for a way to make sense of a country that made no sense to her at all.

In SHRAPNEL, Gamsu searches for meaning through diabolically funny stories of tsuris- the Yiddish word for pain, eating her mother’s blood by mistake, psilocybin spiritual journeys into the past and of course, her shapeshifting days suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy. There are also stories of meerkats and tortoises without their shells. And customer service arguments over tinned fruit.

Combining poetic writing, ridiculous and heartbreaking personal stories, and the deep and haunting singing voice of one of Australia’s most gifted performers, SHRAPNEL is a celebration of Natalie Gamsu’s strange, beautiful, and fearless capacity to expose her eccentricities and uncanny life experiences with you all.

Performed by Natalie Gamsu

Director: Stephen Nicolazzo

Writers: Natalie Gamsu and Ash Flanders

Musical Direction: Mark Jones, Max Lambert,

Lighting Designer: Sidney Younger

★★★★½ “Shrapnel is performed in a way that dignifies Gamsu’s deepest secrets and induces the audience into bursts of laughter through a series of self-deprecating anecdotes and colourful descriptions of her favourite influential figures. Among the most memorable of these are her peculiar first casting agent in Cape Town and the eccentric directors of a cabaret club in Johannesburg. As the recital nears a close, Gamsu describes a fond, long-awaited love from her mother amid her battle with dementia before closing her performance with ‘A Song For You’, affording herself a well-deserved and heart-felt standing ovation.” Amelia Williamson, Its On The House

“Shrapnel is a mosaic of things that have made Natalie Gamsu who she is. Her storytelling style is captivating. Her singing is powerful. And her collection of stories kept the audience laughing or awed or shocked.” Keith Gow, Theatre First

“Natalie Gamsu was once awakened by a zebra’s breath on her cheek in a marijuana plantation, and Shrapnel, an hour-long monologue frosted with music, gave us raw slices of her remarkable life, including growing up during South Africa’s repugnant apartheid years. Her version of being a musical theatre triple threat, she told us, was being fat, stoned and epileptic – yet she still bravely performed edgy cabaret in a police state. Life, she said, is partly about letting go of the need to be special. She might have let go, but she was the festival’s most potent performer.” John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald