All 13 episodes of Skemerdans, a Cape Flats neo-noir murder mystery, are now available to binge on Showmax.
The whodunnit is set at the Oasis jazz club, the centre of a power struggle between two brothers, a scorned widow and an organised crime syndicate.
An organic, hyper-local mix of both Afrikaans and English, the half-hour series was filmed along Voortrekker Road and at Club Galaxy, Cape Town’s oldest club, which opened in Rylands in 1978. Galaxy is doubling as both The Oasis and the Adams brothers’ strip club, The Velvet Room.
Skemerdans builds on the success of previous Showmax Originals like the SAFTA-winning Tali’s Wedding Diary, the SAFTA-nominated The Girl From St. Agnes, and this year’s critically-acclaimed series DAM and Tali’s Baby Diary.
Skemerdans revolves around the Fortune family, whose eldest son Glenn (SAFTA winner Kevin Smith from Isidingo and Arendsvlei) owns The Oasis with his wife, Shireen (SAFTA winner Ilse Klink from Stroomop and Isidingo). Other members of the Fortune family are played by SAFTA winner Brendon Daniels (Four Corners, Sara se Geheim, Arendsvlei); SAFTA nominee Vinette Ebrahim (7de Laan, Binnelanders); Carmen Maarman (Arendsvlei, Lui Maar Op, Belinda); rising star Trudy van Rooy (Die Byl, Sara se Geheim); and Ceagan Arendse (Suidooster, Arendsvlei), who tragically passed away in February 2021. The first episode is dedicated to Arendse.
“Skemerdans is about power struggles within a family, which is something that we all relate to,” says Smith. “It really unpacks what happens when a family is put under pressure in a crisis.”
Fleur du Cap winners Sanda Shandu (The Kissing Booth 1 and 2) and Mbulelo Grootboom (Sara se Geheim, Projek Dina); Fleur du Cap nominee Ann Juries-May (Arendsvlei, Ander Mens); Danny Ross (Nommer 37, Arendsvlei, Suidooster); Kim Syster (Binnelanders, Suidooster); and legendary Cape Town muso Alistair Izobell all feature prominently as staff at The Oasis.
2019 Comics Choice nominee Carl Weber also stars as one of the Adams brothers, mob bosses who are buying up the strip around The Oasis. Bongo Mbutuma (Die Spreeus, Erfsondes) plays his partner in crime and brother from another mother.
“This was the first time that I, as a coloured actress, was working with a virtually all-coloured cast in a professional setting, so this was absolutely amazing,” says van Rooy. “You haven’t seen us represented like this before on TV.”
Klink agrees. “Part of what attracted me to Skemerdans was it tells the story of coloured people of affluence. They’re not downtrodden; they’re not living on the breadline. This is a very important story to tell, where coloured people are not just seen as gangsters and other stereotypes.”
The edgy show has a 16 age restriction.
Watch the trailer: