(Siyasanga Tundzi, Sifaneslesibonge Mtshali and Ayanda Khowa-Fali. Pic by Val Adamson)Director handles challenges with skill and focus. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Having recently appeared on the National Arts Festival, Genbia Hyla's 05978321 is back at its base at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and running in the Courtyard Theatre for a short season.
Directed by Thembalethu 'pro' Nqumako and featuring DUT Department of Drama and Production Studies 2012 final year students, 05978321 has a complicated storyline.
As Nqumako says in his programme notes: “First there is a crime witnessed during a peacekeeping mission in Burundi in 2001 and a consequent General Court Martial. A decade later the same accomplices in this trial meet in a criminal court for the murder of the previous murderer. Finally, there is an implication of some sort of final judgement in which mortal action is evaluated by moral ethics.”
There are a number of challenges in that the playwright is not explicit in identifying a setting or indicating whether the two legal teams are played by the same characters. The audience is given the opportunity to decide their own take on automatism (to do something without conscious thought), a rarely-used criminal defence where the onus relies on the prosecution to provide supporting proof. Under the directorial eye of Deborah Lutge, Nqumako handled these challenges with skill and focus.
In her review of the play in Grahamstown, Philisiwe Sithole states:
“The show combines the symbolic set and mask in a challenging way with history. It emphasises 05978321 as a show in which carnival is used as a metaphor. The use of mask in hiding the face symbolises the hidden truth of the trial. The show talks to the brain of the audience, it is very wordy, full of facts and juristic procedures, the director succeeds in making theatre out of that.”
I concur with Philisiwe Sithole in that Ayanda Khowa-Fali delivered an excellent performance, as did Charles Zulu and Siyasanga Tundzi. They are backed by a strong cast which includes Thandeka Masango, Ndumiso Mhlongo, Sifanelesibonge Mimmy Mtshali and Mbaliyethu Sithole.
Technical director Mthandazo Mofokeng is to be congratulated for a set that is skilfully created out of scrap metals and includes moulded animal skulls on long poles. There are wire moving panels which can be placed in different configurations and the lighting is very effective.
This production requires concentration because of its complexity and time frames, therefore every single word of the text needs to be heard. My only complaint is that speech delivery was too fast and the ends of sentences were often dropped, leaving the listener trying to work out what had just been said.
05978321 runs until July 21 nightly at 18h00 at the DUT Courtyard Theatre on the Steve Biko campus, Mansfield Road. – Caroline Smart
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