Actress, songwriter and cabaret artist Joanna Weinberg will return to South Africa after many years to perform her entertaining hit solo cabaret, Pandora’s Bag, at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio for a limited season, starting this week.

A graduate of the University of Cape Town’s drama department, Weinberg was born in London and raised in South Africa before moving to Sydney in Australia. Coming from a family of classical musicians, she has many years of experience in creating and performing theatre, music, cabaret and musical theatre and has created five albums of original songs, two of which are original cast albums of her musicals.

Pandora’s Bag is comic solo cabaret show with keyboard, accordion and handbags. The show is inspired by bags and the women who wear them, covering subject matter like old bags, laundry bags and bag porn. The audience is encouraged to show and tell their own bag stories for a chance to win a prize, while a volunteer bag model will also be selected from the audience, giving theatrical extroverts a chance to shine. Of the production’s run in the Mother City, she says:

I’m so thrilled to be performing in Cape Town again, which is where I began my career. With October being breast cancer awareness month, I felt that this would be a timely show which celebrates both women and the handbag as metaphor for and extension of the female body. I would like to point out that men also love this show, as they have their own baggage.

Weinberg has written thirteen original one-woman shows, including the critically acclaimed Piano Diaries, which is available on iTunes. Much of her theatre training and background is evident in many of the songs with a masterful way of crafting lyrics. Her award winning musical, Lifeforce: the Mother of all Journeys, played the Sydney Fringe in 2013 and her soccer-parent musical, Every Single Saturday, toured New South Wales in 2011. Some of her other original shows include Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs, 12 Shoes and Sinksongs, which was the inspiration for a feature film, Goddess, which had a worldwide release in 2012. Her work has been performed in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.

Pandora’s Bag runs at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from 23 October to 3 November at 20:15 nightly with Saturday matinees at 17:00. Ticket prices ranges from R160 to R180, with a rate of R130 for block-bookings of ten or more people. Booking is through Webtickets.