Soapie Review: Why The River’s Tumi Can’t Act

There have been heated debates about Larona Moagi’s acting as Tumi Mokoena since the inception of The River in 2018.

In fact, her lack of talent is behind the reason that the multi-award-winning telenovela lost it’s most gifted and multi-award-winning actress; Motshidi Motshekgwa who played Larona’s mother.

The two apparently didn’t get along on set when Motshidi tried to steer the actress in the right direction. Larona was struggling to connect with her role and didn’t appreciate criticism from the veteran who got later got fired.

Motshidi wasn’t the only one who thought that Larona needed more training. Fans of the show are currently still struggling to relate to the actress’s emotion or dearth thereof on her role.

Larona herself acknowledged in a few interviews that getting into emotional and heavy scenes is a skill she finds challenging, but how much more time will it take for her to get there because it’s been more than two years already.

So, this brings my next question. Are actors made or born?

According to experts: truly great actors are indeed born. Nevertheless, as important as this may be, they will not realize their true potential unless they train. … Great actors are born with further developed imaginations.

See, it doesn’t matter what Motshidi did or said. The fact that people have to question your acting, already proves that there’s a missing element in your acting and viewers are not connecting to you on screen.

The moment Tumi starts talking, you’d feel like switching channels. She has these weird facial expressions like she’s about to deliver her best performance and then, poof…the disappointment! The only reason she’s lasted this long in The River soapville is that she’s surrounded by talented actors.

When she was dating/married Zolani (Lawrence Maleka) in the first season, we didn’t heed her acting because their relationship helped conceal her appalling acting.

She needs to fuel a remarkable flame in her role like her on-screen, award-winning mother; Lindiwe Dikana played by Sindi Dlathu. Common sense dictates an actress cannot rely on her looks and other actors’ talents to conceal her lousy acting forever.