Belgravia Road is in Athlone, a suburb within the Municipality of Cape Town. Athlone is in the Cape Flats which the Apartheid zoning laws designated a Coloured Area.
Athlone is mostly residential; Belgravia Road is a busy main road with bustling businesses ranging from car dealerships to bakeries and everything in between. Belgravia High School, an English medium school, was where in 1985, as part of the student uprising, 5000 pupils gathered to protest the repressive Apartheid regime.
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Marc Eugene Lottering has made Belgravia Road in Athlone famous for all the right reasons. His stories bring belly laughs to packed houses year after year, with songs that get your feet tapping and leave audiences swept into a whirlwind of exuberant storytelling.
Born into a close-knit family where his father pastored a Pentecostal church, Marc discovered his love for singing early, belting out praise and worship with true Pentecostal gusto. Though his career began in advertising—where selling stories to sell products prepared him for the stage—Marc's destiny was always performance.
In this conversation with Ruth Kamau, Marc's easy manner shines through immediately. From childhood memories at drive-through hatches to his father's mantra "Let's have a good day!", Marc traces the origins of his comedic perspective.
Ruth delights in discovering Marc's connection to iKhaya Lodge's conference room, where he once fumbled through spreadsheets as a tense project manager—far from the relaxed performer we know today. That transformation began on his birthday at the Coffee Lounge, where Aunty Merle was born and Marc Lottering the comedian emerged.
Within eighteen months, Marc swept from local productions into big league shows like Jesus Christ Superstar and Grease, winning the Cape Town Theatre Award. Yet he felt most alive telling African stories that reflected life as he lived it. His "fun storytelling" approach spawned three original Aunty Merle musicals, earning a Naledi Award along the way.
Marc's latest one-man show, Marc Eugene Lottering, reveals his most vulnerable and authentic self—partly inspired by an ancestry test. He readily claims it as his favourite work.
Catch Marc's fourth musical, Colleen The Musical, running 27 November 2025 – 7 February 2026 at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town.
Notable Awards:
Listen now for:
Follow Marc's work: https://marclottering.com/
Twendeni, Africa is ready!
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