(Durban
based award winning Actress and Empatheatre co-director Mpume Mthombeni
performing as Nolwandle, a marine educator who tells the story of her
grandmother (a traditional healer from Kosi Bay) and her mother (a Zionist
healer). We learn the long legacy of forced removals through her captivating
performance. Pic by Retha Ferguson)
Lalela
uLwandle (listen to the sea) is the new production
from Empatheatre, a group of researcher-activist-theatre makers, which will
tour coastal towns in KZN before having a formal theatre run in the UKZN’s
Square Space Theatre from October 15 to 19, 2019.
Lalela
uLwandle is an interactive immersive theatre and
public storytelling experience, led by the Empatheatre collective. The project
makes visible the stories of living with the ocean that are seldom heard in the
public domain, drawing from seven months of collaborative action research into
the lives of different KZN citizens along the coast. This project brings to the
surface the lived realities of people involved directly and indirectly with the
ocean, as well as creating a new social platform that makes public dialogue
possible regarding collective pressing concerns regarding the ocean’s health.
The writing team, led by Neil Coppen with
contributions from Helen Walne, Gcina Mhlophe, Mpume Mthombeni, Dylan McGarry,
Taryn Pereira and Kira Erwin, pieced together oral histories, interviews, focus
group discussions, archival research and traditional local stories into a rich
and thickly described narrative of fictional characters hopes, dreams and
concerns for KZN’s shared coastal and oceanic heritage.
The production is led by Dylan McGarry and
Taryn Pereira at the Environmental Learning Research Centre, Rhodes University,
in close collaboration with Kira Erwin at the Urban Futures Centre, Durban
University of Technology and forms part of the One Ocean Hub, a global action
research network led by Strathclyde University, and funded by the UKRI Global
Challenge Research Fund.
After the show the audience are encouraged
to participate in a public dialogue space facilitated by the research team from
Rhodes University and the Durban University of Technology.
Lalela
uLwandle is performed by Durban-based actors Mpume
Mtombeni (playing Nowandle, and isiZulu marine educator with an ancestral
heritage in Zulu mysticism), Alison Cassels (playing Faye, a retired marine
scientist and recent widow) and Rory Booth (playing Niren, a young South Durban
Indian social and environmental activist, and descendent of a long line of
Durban Indian fisher folk). This talented and award-winning cast perform a
captivating production based on the first-hand testimonials that have been
crafted into a theatrical journey. As Coppen explains: “...is a theatre based
methodology that intentionally aims to inspire and develop a greater empathy
and kindness in complex social learning spaces that are experiencing conflict
or injustice.”
Design is by Dylan McGarry and Neil Coppen
with costumes by Dylan McGarry and Diane Badenhorst. Lighting design is by Tina
Le Roux, Stage Manager is Zenzo Msomi, and Sound Design is by Tristan Horton.
The score has been written by Guy Buttery and Gary Thomas.
The Empatheatre team have been responsible
for launching several high-profile social-justice theatre projects over the
last decade including Soil & Ash
(focusing on rural communities facing pressure from coal-mining companies), Ulwembu (street-level drug addiction), The Last Country (stories of migrant
women) and now Lalela uLwandle
(stories focusing on communities’ relationships with the ocean). All
productions are in repertory.
For bookings contact Tamlynn Fleetwood on
email: TamlynnF@dut.ac.za or on 079 186 4423
LALELA
ULWANDLE TOUR & SCHEDULE
Port
Shepstone Civic Centre
October 7: 12h00 & 18h00
Scottburgh
High School
October 8: 12h00 & 18h00
Hluhluwe
Environmental Education Centre
October 10: 12h00 & 18h00
Sodwana
Ezemvelo KZN venue
October 11: 12h00 & 18h00
Richards
Bay Zululand Chamber of Commerce
October 12 at 15h00 & 19h00
Square
Space at UKZN Howard College campus
October 15 at 12h00 & 19h00 (official
opening- media/special guests)
October 16: 12h00 & 19h00
October 19: 12h00 & 19h00
uShaka
Marine World
October 17: Bonus Performance at 09h00
October 18 at 19h00
For more information on Empatheatre visit http://www.uncannyjustness.org/empatheatre.html
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