A rhythm to Tiger Bay’s past
FOR those not in the know, Tiger Bay, the old Cardiff Bay, was a place where a disparate population developed at the turn of the 20th century, peppered with immigrants, black, white, poor, rich, property barons, coal magnates, the miners and labourers – the “donkey men” and the “water boys”, those who moved the coal and those who kept the rail tracks clean upon which the commodity was transported.
Colourful it was, and not without its tensions as all diverse communities are.
It will be interesting to see how Cape Town audiences respond to the world debut of the eponymous Tiger Bay the Musical, starting at Artscape Opera on May 20 and running for only seven nights.
A collaboration between Cape Town Opera and the Wales Millennium Centre, it will also see South African, English and Welsh actors together on the stage in what, according to choreographer Kenneth Tharp, promises to be a highly energetic, emotionally-charged production.
Given the likelihood that many in the audience may not be aware of the relevance and locality of the Welsh harbour town, he says the musical “will probably be a history lesson for us all”, and South Africans will no doubt find parallels between our own history and the one portrayed in this show.
Putting it on a personal and emotional level is what it’s all about, says Tharp. “Yes, there is great joy and there are wonderfully uplifting moments but behind this all is the harsh grit and reality of the life of the working class surviving in the docklands.”
Born in London, with a British mother and a Nigerian father, Tharp’s own background is as thickly layered as the community portrayed in the musical. At 57, he has been involved largely in dance and visited here in 2004 on a Churchill Fellowship. He says he was fascinated by the way music and dance so often arose here from, and because of, deeply disadvantaged communities.
He’s spent a lot of time visiting Tiger Bay and shows pictures of both the beauty there today and the old dilapidated tenements that remain, testimony to the area’s gritty past.
In the thick of rehearsals when we meet, he says it is not without a sense of courageousness that cast and production members will be presenting this first-ever staging of this show.
Tharp says rehearsals, which started in early April, are intense and things change and loosen up or tighten on a daily level.
“As we’re treading new ground here it’s an opportunity to also consolidate some of the key issues.”
He adds: “I am so glad the rehearsals started here in Cape Town because there is the most incredible mix of people and there are so many dynamics; so much interaction in the way the cast has to interface with each other in the roles they play.”
He’s confident the production is powerful enough to receive acclaim, saying, “I would be amazed if anybody walks away unmoved. You have a fabulously talented cast and there is so much energy and synergy between them.
“The fact that this is a debut means that there’s a huge commitment from the Cape Town Opera and the Wales Millennium Centre.”
He adds: “If anything can bind us together as in a place like Tiger Bay where you had huge inequality, when something can be humanised to give us empathy, then that says a lot.”
The audience can decide for themselves when the production opens on Saturday, May 20 and runs until May 27.
Book through Computicket or Artscape Dial-A-Seat at 021 421 7695 go to www.capetownopera.co.za for more details.