Tswalo takes on yet another life at The Market Theatre Laboratory this week, following a successful and vigorously attended run at Theatre Arts in Cape Town. Earlier this month I had the pleasure of seeing it (proudly) for most probably the tenth time. It really is a ‘must-see’ and is such a mesmeric sensory and deeply compelling experience of theatre to afford oneself, that I am contemplating seeing it again – I say ‘contemplating’ loosely.
This solo-production performed by the distinctly brilliant Billy Langa and directed by refreshingly inventive Mahlatsi Mokgonyana, who together form the Theatre Duo is indeed a celebration of the art and the craft. Tswalo is a solo-performance where poetry, prose and physical storytelling are set in a timeless space, cultivating a deep meditation in and around matters of existence, of being and all the happenings that being alive emanates.
However, having seen it multiple times with several loved ones, admirable artist acquaintances as well as amidst theatre giants, what has always been so remarkable to me is this profound sense of connectivity that is evoked during the performance, the collective acknowledgment of (and yearning to understand) oneself, as well as the strength and willingness to do so, that it inspired thereafter.
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In the last year, audiences have experienced the play as “more than a play”, as “[digging] into the very essence of what it means to be here and alive”, and “[encapsulating] everything”. And a sentiment, shared so concisely by my sister, that I myself have only come to resonate with most recently – “Before mom’s passing, I never really thought about my origins in terms of how I came in the world. I thought I knew enough of it, [the] place, date, time, who was present. But when she passed, I had this great desire to want to return to my mother’s womb. I don’t have the ability to visualise, especially the intangibles, but watching s somehow gave me this visceral snippet of my existence/time in the womb. I recalled this sense of love and safety.” This sense of love and safety is something that has been renewed within me, with each watch.
The dance of the text, the poetry, song, and movement in conjunction with the tangibly transcendental extension of them through the precision of direction, auditory landscape and the at times radiant and at others, guttural lighting – make Tswalo (uncoincidentally) feel anew.
Having had the privilege of working closely with the Theatre Duo for a year, I can say that I have witnessed that their free-flowing and yet meticulous approach to creation and execution of their work, can easily sever the ‘ordinary’, and powerfully illuminate a truth (often hidden within the mundane) like Tswalo – that irrespective of the performance space, the city or the country, audiences are still made to feel at home. I strongly suspect that this is what continues to make the show well-sought after.
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Tswalo has been performed in 16 different venues globally, including in Norway at the Norwegian International Storytelling Festival, Germany at Iwalewahaus in Bayreuth and Vierte Welt in Berlin, Eswatini at the MTN Bushfire Festival, Namibia at the Warehouse Theatre and all across South Africa – and there are usually people, who have seen the show more than once, in different places.
Tswalo has been and remains a sincere invitation for us all, to engage with our histories, our presence as well as our futures, which are written in the stars and are also alive, in our hands.
I extend their invitation, and nudge you to go and see it in Johannesburg this week, at The Market Theatre Laboratory in the Ramolao Makhene from March 26th to March 31st.
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