If you've been watching episodes of The Queen on Mzansi Magic in recent months you will no doubt be familiar with our guest from the States - uShaqueesha.
Played by the talented Nambitha Ben-Mazwi, Shaqueesha first made an appearance when she followed Amo back home to South Africa after she quit her job. It didn't take long for things to become creepy, as we began to realise that Shaqueesha had a slightly unnatural attachment to her friend Amo. This manifested itself in all kinds of weird behaviours from taking pictures of Amo while she was asleep, to lying blatantly in order to "protect" her.
As it turned out, Shaqueesha was suffering from a mental illness called schizophrenia and "Is characterised by thoughts or experiences that seem out of touch with reality, disorganised speech or behaviour and decreased participation in daily activities. Difficulty with concentration and memory may also be present." (Mayo Clinic).
As you can imagine, acting out some of these characteristics can take its toll on anybody and it came as no surprise when Nambitha revealed that Shaqueesha was one of the most challenging characters she has ever had to portray.
After watching back some of her scenes this week, the actress took to Twitter to exclaim by saying, "Watching this week's episodes is such a mental trip. Portraying this role took a lot out of me. Wow. I love what I do. And the empathy I now have for those suffering with paranoid schizophrenia is on another level. I merely lived this for a few weeks,"
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Fans have been thoroughly shaken by Shaqueesha who (no spoilers!) has taken things to frightening levels.
This is not the first time that Nambitha has been hailed for her acting potential. The multi-talented performer also drew high praise from fans of her previous characters on Broken Vows and Diamond City. The skilled star explained why she enjoyed playing such a wide variety of on-screen characters:
“I never want to be type-casted so it’s great to see how that’s played out in my career thus far. Viewers will be stunned to see me in this light, I enjoyed every minute of becoming a criminal law attorney. My research into the character and law helped with my role. I wanted Benathi to be an effortless and believable lawyer so my body language in itself is vastly different to what viewers expect.”
It's no wonder she was so excited to give her take on Shaqueesha! What do you think of Nambitha's acting in this role?
