‘Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth’
ARTSCAPE is set to present the much anticipated Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth: Musical Reflections on the Youth of ‘76 as part of the Artscape Youth Month celebrations, at the Artscape Opera House on 16 June at 5pm.
The production is a reflection of the era of South Africa in 1976 which will mark the 40th anniversary of the historic June 16 uprisings that set to change the course South African history.
Mandla Mbothwe directs the star-studded cast of the production which will also reflect domestic current affairs through a juxtaposition of monologues by our own legendary women performers, such as Thembi Mtshali-Jones, Bo Petersen and Celeste Matthews-Wannenburgh, and young post 1994 poets - Koleka Putuma, Siphokazi Jonas and Janine Van Rooy-Overmeyer. Together they will give a poetic reflection of now and then.
The production will also feature musician Mandla Mlangeni who will provide a musical narrative journey of the piece. His band will includes the legendary Dizo Plaatjies, Lesego Rampolokeng, Brydon Bolton, Mark Fransman and many more artistes. There will also be a multimedia component under the skilful eye of Sanjin Muftic.
Actress Thembi MtshaliJones was discovered by Welcome Msomi and performed in his original Umabatha (a Zulu adaptation of Macbeth). She then joined the musical Ipi Tombi, in which she took the lead female role as Mama Tembu and toured the world. Mtshali-Jones has won the Lifetime Achievement for Theatre by the Arts and Culture Trust, the 2014 Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award, the 2013 Mbokodo Award as well as Living Legend Award by the City of Durban for her contribution in the arts.
Bo Petersen has been involved in the performing arts for over 38 years. She was fortunate to have Barney Simon, the late artistic director of The Market Theatre, as one of her mentors. he is best known as an actor, on stage, TV and film but has developed a real love for directing. Actress Celeste Matthews-Wannenburgh dedicates her performances to the 1976 unrest. She won a Fleur du Cap for the role of Sophia in Suip.
Singer Babalwa Zimbini Makwetu is a member of future line Arts Academy and has performed with the group in Going back to my roots. Poet Koleka Putuma has headlined at TEDx, SliPnet’s Inzync Poetry Sessions, and Word N Sound. Siphokazi Jonas has performed in one-woman poetry productions, Poetry Under the Stars and Conspiracy Theory.
Tickets: Box office or Dial-aSeat and Computicket Outlets