In the words of Olivia Laing, “The future does not announce its arrival”. It merely takes its course. Tina Campt, of course, speaks of futurity realised in the present entwined with the notion of a “tense”— “a tense relationship to an idea of possibility that is neither innocent nor naïve. [That] is devious and exacting… dogged and disruptive.”
Ezemiphefumlo… of the souls is an indication of a disruptive futurity of being. A relatedness where people, objects, emotions, languages, dreams, and realities collide, melding into each other before fracturing once more. It is described by its makers as, ‘an account of spiritual turmoil, of soul’s wrath and yearnings… a performance of mutated spaces, time and forms of being iziqu ezininzi’.
The performance — directed by Mandla Mbothwe and Chuma Sopotela — is a transdisciplinary work fusing dance, poetry, idioms, proverbs and song. Here, trans is understood as a profound alteration of what currently is; transition, transgression, trans-material (Alaimo: 2010). In the futuristic world of Ezemiphefumlo… boundaries rub up against each other and collapse in on themselves.
With a diverse and talented acting cast comprised of students from UCT’s Centre for Theatre & Performance Studies, the offering is an indication of what it means for performative work to interrupt itself — where interruption can be thought of as a productive mode of working that disrupts continuity. The performance begins with an affecting segment that sees one of our protagonists in a state of internal turmoil, signalled through motions that are at once hesitant and sensual. This inquiry is quickly interrupted as audiences are ushered into the Little Theatre where a combination of dim lights and an impassioned monologue are enough to displace the comfortable viewer.
Throughout the performance, actors move seamlessly through different languages — both gestural and spoken — a spin turns into a walk into a prance into a jump and English into isiXhosa into Sesotho into Afrikaans. As each comes into contact with the other, the possibility for radical communion and connection emerges. The idea of a “strange tongue” is evoked through the image of the typewriter. The typewriter is revered, reviled, cradled, and castigated, reflecting the director’s impulse to create “a space to speak out through the discomfort of the typewriter’s tongue.”
The tongue, of course, is never only about phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, it is also necessarily about the values inherent in using that tongue… what people need to believe to be able to live within a certain language.
Apart from these stylistic interruptions above, Ezemiphefumlo… of the souls, seems to propose another kind of metaphysical interruptive potential — the interruption of certainty. One is never quite sure what one is witnessing and despite feeling deeply, one can’t always name the feeling. Heart-wrenching and moving scenes on life’s painful realities – death, loss of love and estrangement – are punctuated with dynamic and defiant choreography that quickly transform one’s muffled cries into joyful laughter. Weeping turns into chuckling turns into a whistle. A kind of interruption that results in total transformation. The only thing that remains is the essence… the soul.
Production Credits
Directed by Mandla Mbothwe and Chuma Sopotela, choreographed by Mzokuthula Gasa, featuring Indalo Stofile and musical direction by Babalwa Zimbini Makwetu.
Third Year Acting Cast
Andisa Bulo, Karabo (Hope) Banda, Neo Gumede, Olwethu Kunene, Nicholas Kruger, Litha Akume, Babalwa Mshume, Thandolwethu Msiza, Thando Myeza, Deborah-Keir Paulsen, Lusanda Soboyise, Nicole Smith, Michael Zuckerman, Siba Qoba and Jodine Ockers.
