Director Sanele Gumede succeeds in presenting the true
meaning of freedom. (Review by Caroline Smart)
This year, the Musho! Festival presents two programmes under
the title Musho With a Twist. Created by the individual groups with mentorship
through Twist Projects, each show contains a double bill of two short stories.
Yesterday’s first production in Musho With a Twist 1 was Freedom Forest from the Izwi Youth
Theatre Group, written and directed by Sanele Gumede and featuring Sabelo Khoza
and Siyabonga Majola.
The audience enters to find veteran Sthenjwa Dlamini seated
on a block, dressed in his old camouflage uniform. He is drunk, bottle in hand,
listening to his tape player and moving erratically to the music. He harangues
the audience when they don’t rise immediately for the national anthem and then hones
in on the words “live and strive for freedom”. Once he feels he has finally bullied
the audience to attention, he launches into a tirade about freedom. He was
trained and fought for freedom ... but freedom for who and what? Because he
doesn’t have it.
Sabelo Khoza puts in a consistently strong performance as the
man taught to change his thinking. Into his dream comes a black-caped and
hooded character who instructs him to go down the river to the forest where he
will find his precious freedom. Once there, he encounters a hunter who steals
his clothes saying that “freedom doesn’t come with nice clothes”. Then there’s
a smartly-clad landowner who taunts him with models of a beautiful home and
expensive vehicles.
One thing about Musho – which focuses on one and two-handers
– is that it forces writers and directors to be creative. It also requires a
strong level of versatility if there are a number of characters.
Taking on the other characters, which includes an evil
spirit, Siyabonga Majola slips easily into the different roles bringing a good
sense of energy and mood to each one.
Gumede’s aim was to present a production that sent out a
strong message that freedom “doesn’t mean folding arms and expecting to be
spoonfed”. He has certainly succeeded with Freedom
Forest.
The other production in the double bill was Too Long presented by the Sinethemba
Theatre Group. (See separate review)
Musho! runs until this
evening (Sunday, January 18), offering a variety of one-off performances. For
the full Musho! Festival programme visit www.mushofestival.co.za
Tickets R50. (R30
students, OAP and PANSA members) booked via Computicket or by phoning 031 837
5999.
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