Struggles of young people on Cape Flats take centre stage
THE often onerous lived realities of life on the Cape Flats is the setting for a production at Artscape.
After nearly 10 years of conceptualisation, the production, Memory is a Weapon, will have its inaugural show in the Arena Theatre, detailing the struggles faced by young people growing up on the Cape Flats.
With influences of hip hop, the show looks at three young artists who feel trapped on the Cape Flats, navigating generational and personal struggles and limitations – hindering them from reaching their full potential and purpose.
Producer, director, writer and cast member Monishia Schoeman will be joined by fellow cast members Evangeline Fisher, Chavonne Matthys and Nathan Lodewyk.
The show aspires to dismantle widely perpetuated stereotypes on people from these communities, commonly painted as criminals, instead of complex and beautiful.
Schoeman said: “Some of the themes we deal with in the production are related to the fact that we as people from the Cape Flats feel almost a sense of complacency – left out, displaced, as though we’re not a part of our world.”
Their intention was to take the production to schools, with a workshop using creative skills to convey messages of “upliftment, possibility and understanding”, and showcase it nationally and internationally at theatre festivals.
“We’ve stopped dreaming and we’ve stopped connecting with our ancestry, lineage and our heritage and we have disconnected and disassociated ourselves from the collective and I’m saying that is what a major contributor is in the state of affairs for us as people living on the Cape Flats,” Schoeman said.
Artscape senior communications and brand manager Simone Heradien said Artscape was a home for all, and as a receiving house its facilities were open to all artists and producers.
“It is thus crucial that a diverse range of inclusive productions are on offer, which includes formerly marginalised art forms such as jazz, hip hop and even drag shows,” she said.
Today’s show starts at 6pm, followed by two shows tomorrow at 2pm and 6pm. Bookings can be made via Computicket or call Artscape Dial-aSeat on 021 421 7695.