For Desiré Gardner, comedy can be found around every corner of life. It lies locked in the mundanity of life that people so often take for granted.
This is precisely why today Desiré continues to carefully develop her beloved character, Magda Louw. She has walked a close path with this character for decades, and is particularly excited about a second season of kykNET’s hit series, Magda Louwto announce.
“It is an absolute privilege for me to launch a second season. It’s a character that I fell in love with at a very young age, and it’s wonderful to see how other people fall in love with her as well,” Desiré tells RNews.
Although Magda only started hanging out in people’s living rooms a short while ago, she has been part of Desiré’s life for years. As a young teenage girl, Desiré had to create a character for school, and it was there that Magda was born.
It was so hot that Magda never made her appearance on the boards or box office, it was a game of patience and faith. Desiré could not have imagined in her wildest dreams that her childhood character would eventually carve out a place in South African hearts and homes. It was her mother, as it were, who never let Desiré lose courage or hope in the character.
Today, after decades, Magda is a well-known and loved face. She regularly visits all that is a stage and today boasts a short film and a series about her love and sorrow.
It is a belt under the heart for Desiré when people strike up conversations with her and repeat Magda’s witty sayings.
“I think this is how a singer must feel when people sing his songs back to him. I am incredibly grateful that people are willing to watch the story,” she says.
“It’s incredible to me that I could write words that have value for someone else, mean something to them.”
People can look forward to getting to know Magda’s inner circle better in the second season of the series. It is still important for Desiré to fill the series with comedy, but also a touch of reality and tragedy.
“A person goes through a wide variety of life experiences, but it remains important to look back at each of these experiences tongue in cheek.
“We have to laugh at the things we can’t change. I am one of those people who sit in sacks and ashes when I go through a difficult time, but afterwards, when I look back, it is important for me to laugh about it.
“We need to discuss the difficult things in life. If one talks about it, one takes the taboo out of the subject. We all have insecurities, if we discuss them with others, maybe laugh about them, we can remove the stigma around them. Then we actually realize that we are not alone.”
Magda’s story is far from being told, says Desiré. There are themes that still need to be touched on, stories that she still wants to tell through Magda’s pen.
One of the most enjoyable parts of her one-woman show, Magda Louw, are the conversations she strikes up with people after every show. She appreciates every anecdote, every piece of truth of life that people share with her with open hands and hearts. It is precisely these anecdotes that make her realize again and again that there are still so many stories to be told about those who are in their autumn years, as she calls them.
“People love Magda so much because she reminds you of someone you know. She is your mother, aunt or even just someone you have dealt with. I have talked to so many people, especially women, in their autumn years and every time I realize just how much we as young people still have to learn from them.
“Something that I realize after every conversation with a woman in her middle years, is that these women have an incredibly sharp sense of humor. It’s a bit dark at times, but it’s incredibly sharp. And they say something so fleeting, then one realizes only later how much truth of life and humor is locked up in that fleeting statement.
“The saying ‘with grayness comes wisdom’ is so true, but with this grayness also comes funnyness – it is refreshing and so much needed. They bring us things we didn’t even know we needed.”
- The second season of Magda Louw kicks off on 1 January 2024 on kykNET, DStv channel 144.
