SPIRITED: Chuma Sepotela and Indalo Stofile in the reading. SPIRITED: Chuma Sepotela and Indalo Stofile in the reading.
OOMASISULU. Written by Sindiwe Magona. Directed by Warona Seane, with Themba Mtshali-Jones and Indalo Stofile. At the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown. TRACEY SAUNDERS reviews
IT IS still surprising that in 2016 women are more often than not recognized with reference to their spouses. Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela; Jacob Zuma’s ex wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, the wife of former ANC Secretary-General and Deputy President, Walter Sisulu. What is as surprising is that it has taken 22 years since the advent of democracy for Albertina Sisulu’s life story to be brought to stage.
Much more than a wife and a mother, her roles as a nurse, an activist, a mentor and a friend will be highlighted in the production OoMaSisulu, which premières at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July. The script has been adapted by Sindiwe Magona from the book In Our Lifetime, the biography of Walter and Albertina Sisulu written by their daughter-in-law, Elinor Sisulu.
The project was initiated by Thembi Mtshali-Jones and Sindiwe Magona and has been supported by Artscape’s creative manager, Mandla Mbothwe. A small audience, including members of the Sisulu family, was present at the rehearsed reading on February 12, a day after Parliament opened earlier this year. They watched entranced as the spirit of the woman, Nontsikelelo Thethiwe, born in a village near Cofimvaba in the Transkei, on October 21, 1918 was resurrected on stage.
The moments of her political awakening were beautifully portrayed as the scene of a young woman eavesdropping on political meetings before entering them herself, unfolded on stage. Sisulu joined the ANC Women’s League in 1955 and was part of the launch of the Freedom Charter later that year.
She was also the only woman present at the first conference of the ANC Youth League. Given the length and depth of her political career and her vital role in the 1956 march, condensing it for the stage seems an impossible task. She endured 17 years of continuous bans and several years of incarceration.
Warona Seane, director and dramaturg is determined to do her entire life justice though and won’t neglect some of the more surprising facts, including that she was an accomplished horse rider and swimmer. The multi-faceted woman inspired others in all of her roles. As a mother to not only her own biological children, but to that of her sister’s children she defied the apartheid government’s attempts to destroy her and her family.
Despite their marriage being interrupted by his imprisonment on Robben Island their love remained constant. Apart from infrequent visits Albertina had scant contact with him, but this did not seem to diminish their obvious love and respect for each other.
Seane was struck when watching documentary footage of the couple by the playfulness of their relationship and hopes that this aspect will come to the fore on stage.
The reading was performed by Indalo Stofile and Chuma Sepotela, the assistant director on the project. Thembi Mtshali Jones withdrew from the initial rehearsal period following the tragic death of her husband. She will however play the lead role in Grahamstown and given the striking physical similarity between her and Stofile the casting decision seems perfect. While Stofile is perfectly suited to play the younger Sisulu she also plays the role of a young women activist, one of many who regularly visited the Sisulu home. The construct of the play is a dialogue between these women and an invitation to explore what lessons can still be learnt from the senior struggle stalwart.
For the young actress this has been the opportunity of a lifetime. “The production resonated and transcended generations for me as a performer. During the process we didn’t seek only the personality of the true Ma Sisulu Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, but the spirit in which she carried within, other women like her” Stofile said. She hopes that the production will inspire a younger generation and “provoke and inspire the youth to take action and not just be annoyed by happenings in our society, but take action to change it.”
The play is set in 2011, but goes back in time to introduce us to a younger Albertina. OoMaSisulu is a collective rather than a singular word and it is not only her life as an activist that is interrogated but that of all the women, the mostly unsung heroes of the struggle against apartheid. Given the role that women activists have played in the recent Fallist movements this is a timely piece of work and one of the events commemorating the 1956 women’s march to the Union Building to protest the Pass Laws.
After opening at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July OoMaSisulu will transfer to The Artscape Theatre for a run to coincide with Women’s Day in August. Perhaps now is the perfect time to remember and honour a woman who epitomised the very best of the ANC.
More than ever the tribute paid to her by COSATU holds true “For her, right was right and wrong was wrong. We hope that these values will not die with her, as today we face a new, entirely opposite, culture of individualism and greed,”
Booking for the National Arts Festival opens on May 9.
l www.nationalartsfestival.co.za