(Above: Pic by Val Adamson)
Congratulations to the creative
team—directors (Meskin, Mtshali, Cibane) and their dedicated assistants as well
as lighting designer Lisa Goldstone and the cast’s electrifying unity—for
delivering a message of profound importance and an unforgettable
ensemble-driven experience. (Review by Marcia Mzindle)
I am welcomed to a
vibrant and exciting energy outside in the DUT Courtyard garden as attending
audience member students sing while in wait to support the second-year group in
this evening performance of Umhlaba
uyalila (The Earth is Weeping).
It is a cool Thursday evening, May 14, 2025, at the Courtyard Theatre, Durban. Along the Courtyard veranda, an exhibition of an array of photos by Val Adamson has been carefully arranged to meet and set the mood and atmosphere for tonight's theme—the play directed by Dr Tamar Meskin, Mdu Mtshali and Zenneth Cibane.
Umhlaba Uyalila is a theatre-as-activism play exploring the unstable and uncertain environmental future due to climate change. Drawing on poetry, dance, music, physical theatre, and potent visual imagery that reinforces the themes of famine, drought, pollution, flooding, heatwave, and wildfires more in episodic vignettes.
The stage breathes life before the play even begins as we step into the theatre, actors are already on stage - clearing debris, picking up trash, and tidying the space—evoking the atmosphere of a neglected community park left in disarray and now order being restored.
A Michael Jackson's song Heal the World softly plays in the background. What does the Earth say when she is heard? This performance provokes that question, channelling her voice through those who fight for her survival. The actors’ costumes speak louder than words: the actors wear black T-shirts—some in head-to-toe blue overalls, others in ghostly white. Black for mourning, blue for the poisoned sea and wounded ecosystems, white for the landscapes stripped bare. The actors become a living palette of ecological ruin.
The issues addressed are not just important, but vital—for if we fail to protect what shelters, nourishes and sustains us, we ultimately betray our own survival, what future do we have?
As we sit in the audience, we are invited to imagine a chilling reversal - what if the Earth’s suffering were our own? The performers command the space with electrifying physicality: acting that sears, dance that pulses and vocals that swell with raw emotion. Every artist commits utterly, their focus razor-sharp captivating us with an energy so potent is feels inescapable. Not a single moment lacks intention.
Remaining performances for Umhlaba Uyalila: Thursday, 15 May 2025 at 16h00 and Friday, 16, 2025 at 18h00 at Courtyard Theatre, Durban.
Entrance (R50. R20 for students). - Marcia Mzindle
Posts
