Umsindo Theatre Projects holds its head up
high with production on the Arena Programme. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Written by Neil Coppen and directed by the
well-known Durban identical twins Musawenkosi and Bongumusa Shabalala, Secrets from the Drawer was presented on
the Arena programme of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown by the
Durban-based Umsindo Theatre Projects (UTP).
Umsindo Theatre Productions won the 2011
Standard Bank Encore Ovation Award for To
Be Like This Rock. In preparation for this production, the group was
mentored by Neil Coppen and the Twist Theatre Development Project.
The play is set at a run-down mortuary which
is presided over by Mkhulu, a mortician who has spent most of his adult life carefully
preparing the bodies of the dead. Four bodies come in one night and, as he sets
about the cleansing process with dignity and respect, he becomes involved in
the violent tales of their deaths. Gently, he calms each one and puts them back
to sleep.
Adding to his concerns is the constant
appearance of the spirit of his late father who urges him to get out
among the living and move into another kind of job.
His assistant is having wife problems and
unburdens them on Mkhulu before taking things into his own hands, to disastrous
results.
Good performances all round in a play which
is headed by Thandanani Qwabe as the mortician, Thobani Mbhele as his father and
Wiseman Mncube as his volatile assistant. Sphindile Myeni provides much pathos
as the mother of the young schoolgirl, Phumzile, played by Nomvuselelo Myeza.
Thamsanqa Silindana is the corrupt
politician who gets his comeuppance from the souls of the departed. Xolisile
Khumalo plays the fourth body whose identity is only revealed in the last
stages in a very emotional scene.
Despite the morbid nature of the play,
there is much gentle humour and amusing dialogue.
The production held my interest throughout
despite issues that could have been better explored. I look forward to seeing
it when it is able to be performed with a proper set and not one that is
subject to the restrictions and costs of transportation, as are most
productions that appear on festivals out of their hometowns.
Secrets
from the Drawer held its head up high for Umsindo
Theatre Projects (UTP) as a viable performance company and if they present
something at next year’s Festival, it is bound to be worth watching. – Caroline
Smart
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