Zoid Spawn set to bring a different beat to Melkbos

You're getting Karen Zoid songs, but there is also theatre, conversation, piano, visual art and a mother and son sharing the same creative space.

If Karen Zoid walking into a church with an electric guitar no longer sounds strange, congratulations, you've been paying attention.

Her next project takes another interesting turn

Zoid Spawn brings Zoid onto the stage with her son, visual artist Ben Francis, and pianist Anton Eloff for something that's not quite a concert, not quite theatre and definitely not Karen standing behind a microphone working through a setlist.

The production reaches Melkbosstrand on 25 and 26 September 2026, with both performances taking place at NG Kerk Melkbosstrand at 19:30 as part of the Melkbos Ateljee Art/Film Festival. These are also the earliest advertised performances before Zoid Spawn heads to the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees on 5 October, Montecasino later in October and Theatre on the Bay in November.

And yes, the name is very much giving gamer

The idea borrows from the video-game world where Super Mario gets multiple lives, and Call of Duty gives you another shot through respawning. Human beings, inconveniently, don't get the same deal.

Underneath the gaming references is something more personal. Zoid Spawn is framed as a conversation between mother and son, with blood ties, humour, music, art and the fragility of being alive threaded through it.

Ben isn't there as Karen Zoid's son who happens to be joining Mum on stage either. His visual landscapes are part of the production itself, while Eloff brings what the show describes as cinematic piano to Zoid's music. The result puts three different creative languages in the same room: her songs, his piano and Ben's visual art.

There's also a rather lovely Melkbos connection in the background

Zoid has already spent some time making music in churches through Zoid Psalm, which debuted at NG Kerk Bloubergstrand in May 2025. That production paired her electric guitars with the church organ, and the combined choirs of NG Kerk Bloubergstrand and NG Kerk Melkbosstrand sang backing vocals. Ben Francis was behind some of the photography from that production as well.

Whether any of that directly influenced Zoid Spawn being staged in Melkbos has not been confirmed, but it does mean Karen Zoid, Ben Francis and the local church community are hardly strangers passing one another at the door.

What makes Zoid Spawn interesting is probably the bit that's hardest to put into a single category.

You're getting Karen Zoid songs, but it's not being sold as another Karen Zoid gig. There is theatre, conversation, piano, visual art and a mother and son sharing the same creative space. Somewhere in there are Mario, respawns and the mildly uncomfortable reminder that we only get one life outside the PlayStation.

Very Zoid, really.

Zoid Spawn is at NG Kerk Melkbosstrand on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 at 19:30. The performance is approximately 100 minutes, including an interval, and no under-13s are permitted.