Community, actors make theatre that is streets ahead
IZITHOMBE 2094
IN THE larger picture of what can be viewed as theatre, this is perhaps unusual, not unique, but difficult to define in the usual parameters. And it is only once going on one of these street theatre performances, that you get the full extent of the drama – for both actors and audience.
In this instance, it’s all about a specific piece of real estate offering a very specific South African landscape. Matshikiza describes Bertrams as “a handful of mismatched inheritances”, which captures it magnificently, all of which is spread out on a canvas for you to see as you move through the area.
It’s extraordinary how much of the place, the environment, becomes part of the theatrical experience, which is also informed by who you are and where you sit on the South African palette. That’s what makes this such an entertaining, but also invaluable, experience.
The actors, even though it wouldn’t seem like that at first glance, play an enormous role in the way they guide us through the DIRECTOR: Alex Halligey CAST: Toni Morkel, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Baeletsi Tsatsi and some Bertrams inhabitants VENUE: The streets of Bertrams UNTIL: September 7 (see info box above) RATING: ★★★★✩ walk from one end of the suburb to another. They affect different guises, perform many roles and wander in and out of our vision throughout the two-hour performance which ends with a viewing of the found objects at the starting point as well as creating memories with crayons on paper once completing the full circle.
I witnessed the first performance which I knew would be a tricky one, and as the run progresses everything will become more heightened. Yet it was fun to do the walk alone without even touching on the dramatics. How many of us wander through a neighbourhood, even one that’s your own?
It is what you find, the people you Children take part in street theatre in encounter, the way normality looks in this landscape moving between young and old and everything in between. And more than anything, it’s the way the neighbourhood reacts and participates. They’re all aware something is happening, and toward the end of the run, you suspect the involvement will increase and the observations will become even more pointed and poignant.
It would be fun to take the family, see how you and they react, what the impact is on young and old, while engaging with an experience that is probably novel. It shows us how seeds are planted in many different ways, and explores how neighbourhoods function.
And then you haven’t even experienced the savvy of Morkel, Matshikiza and Tsatsi as they whisk through outfits with charm and outrage. Just watching these fine skills in action is something special.
Theatre is about change, experiencing something that touches the soul, and knowing that you have gone through something that has made you view things in a different way.
This offers all of that as only theatre could.