Mandela story a different kind of fairytale
A musical telling the story of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is hitting New Zealand stages next year, 25 years after apartheid was abolished in South Africa.
Madiba The Musical charts the 27-year long imprisonment and release of Mandela, told through the lives of those around him.
Writers Jean-Pierre Hadida and Alicia Sebrien brought his story to life and learned every detail they could of the ex-president and his fight for equality, including New Zealand’s own part protesting racist policies.
‘‘New Zealand is a country that was very strong about fighting apartheid, as many countries of the Commonwealth were,’’ Hadida said.
During the 1981 Springbok Tour, New Zealanders took to the streets and sports grounds to protest apartheid policies in South Africa.
At least two games during the tour were called off for security reasons – at a planned match in Hamilton on July 25, protests invaded the grounds and chanted ‘the whole world is watching’.
Mandela certainly was. According to the New Zealand History website, Mandela was in his Robben Island prison cell at the time and, on hearing of the cancellation, said it was as if ‘the sun had come out’.
Moments such as these are reflected in the show, as a jailed Mandela learns of people around the world taking up the antiapartheid cause.
After his release in 1990, Mandela was elected as president in 1994, the same year apartheid legislation was finally abolished. He died in 2013 at age 95 – July 18 2018 would have been his 100th birthday.
‘‘Who wouldn’t be interested in a story that would become a fairytale?’’ Hadida said.
‘‘And it gets to be told in a different way with music because music is a universal language. Mandela said once that without music and dance, he would not be without peace in the world.’’
Traditional South African music is woven into the show, alongside Broadway-style songs, pop music and rap.
The show was first played in Paris two years ago – at the time, Mandela’s grandson, Ndaba Mandela came to see the musical.
Hadida said the cast and crew were wracked with nerves but immensely proud that he came to see their version of his grandfather’s story.
The show will be on New Zealand stages from January 2019.
‘‘We’re very proud to go to the end of the world, to a country so beautiful, so rich and a multiracial society. That’s very symbolic for a show like Madiba.’’