SITTING AROUND THE FIRE

(Pic to come: Bheki Mkhwane, Sduduzo Kawula, Bhekani Shabalala and Bheki Khabela)

Newly-furbished Playhouse Loft a perfect venue for this well-scripted, humorous and skilfully performed one-acter. (Review by Caroline Smart)

A report on artSMart dated August 11, 2002 reads: Theatre of the Imagination’s "Sitting Around the Fire", directed by Bheki Mkhwane, was one of the most exciting community theatre productions to emerge from Durban about four years ago. The cast included award-winning actor Thami Skhosana and Bhekani Shabalala.”

Ten years later, this well-scripted and skilfully performed hour-long play has been revived by veteran theatre producer/director Maurice Podbrey to launch Just in Time Productions. This is a new KZN theatre company he has created in conjunction with popular Durban theatre personality Bheki Mkhwane, Contralesa’s Nthuthuko Khuzwayo and others. Bheki is more widely known for his work with Ellis Pearson and, together, these extraordinary talents have produced some ground-breaking theatre.

Just in Time Productions is a theatre trust committed to the development and presentation of indigenous theatre and the launch sees three remarkable plays in repertory in the Playhouse Loft from April 5 to 24.

Just in Time aims to train theatre practitioners; produce new South African theatre; raise funds to develop and stage productions, and put in place a touring programme for indigenous work. The trust’s vision is to create and stage productions in South African various indigenous languages and to encourage new and innovative writing as well as translate existing quality scripts into South African indigenous languages. The aim is to offer a sustainable environment for new work to be created and staged.

Sitting Round the Fire is written and directed by Bheki Mkhwane who appears in the play along with Sduduzo Kawula (Sdididi), Bhekani Shabalala (Mathatha) and Bheki Khabela (Tsipatsipa). Apart from a mildly chaotic muddle of upturned chairs, a brazier, a rope wound haphazardly round a framework, and the general hiatus of a vagrant lifestyle, the stage is bare. This allows for stimulating and highly effective physical theatre as well as close harmony acappella music, often in isicathamiya style – and a rousing gospel number! - as four men relive their streetwise existence before meeting an old man called Mabhavana (Bheki Mkhwane) who turned their lives around.

As the story goes back in time, there are delightful scenes - Tsipatsipa acting as a bogus convert to get out of prison, Mathatha in highly amusing sequences as a pimp whistling to his girls in a window above and Sdididi as a lost and homeless young boy, asking to sit by the old man’s fire. Bheki Mkhwane generated laughter and sympathy as the drunken husband coming home to flop into bed where his wife is asleep with her lover! There’s humour in droves, including a zonked-out song about sniffing glue. There are many sensitively-handled poignant scenes and we are also reminded of the violence that beset South Africa on its road to democracy, not to mention the ever-present practice of faction vendettas and reprisals.

The other two plays that form part of Just in Time’s launch are A Plague of Heroes a semi-autobiographical piece written by Vusi Mazibuko, directed by Maurice Podbrey and featuring Thami Mbongo, and uThembalethu - Tshepang , written by Lara Foot and directed by Maurice Podbrey featuring Bheki Mkhwane (who translated the work) and Silindile Ndlovu.

The newly-furbished Playhouse Loft with its retractable structure of upholstered seating and carpeted flooring is a perfect venue for Sitting Round the Fire. Well worth a visit, the play deservedly won a Standard Bank Ovation Award on the Grahamstown Fest. 2010.

The Just in Time Production Launch Season runs in the Playhouse Loft until April 24. On April 23, there will be a performance of all three plays. Booking is through Computicket on 083 915 8000 or www.computicket.co.za or Playhouse box office on 031 369 9540. More information on each production’s performance dates can be found on the artSMart Events List. Click on the Forthcoming Events window on the right hand side of this article. – Caroline Smart