THE South African psyche has been left battered and reeling in recent weeks as we lurch from one political drama to the next. It takes an exceptional writer to capture the mood of that political turmoil and translate it on to the stage in a manner which doesn’t feel pedantic or patronizing. Jefferson Bobs Tshabala is that man and at the National Arts Festival earlier this year it was his Secret Ballot that overshadowed any talk of the forthcoming local election.
Alongside the women from Thenx, a collective who are setting stages ablaze, he is part of the new generation, the ones for whom we have been waiting – courageous, forthright and supremely talented. He is a playwright, a director, an actor, a poet and a cultural entrepreneur, in demand for his innovative sketches and unusual gigs which feature a multitude of creative modalities.
Secret Ballot is billed as “protest theatre and a political satire farce.” For Mandla Mbothwe, the creative director at Artscape this was a form of satire which he hadn’t encountered previously. “This was political satire influenced by a township style of theatre. How they reflected on the current issues and how they influence people progress was so fresh, so playful.”
Speaking about the genesis of the play the playwright explains, “ Secret Ballot emerged as a response to a widespread censorship in popular media and mainstream art, that sought and still seeks to marginalize the political discourse of persons who are referred to as ‘aspirational black youths’, or the ‘emerging black middle classes’, or some other fancy term that can be reduced to the crass description of ‘clever blacks’, or ‘upward social mobility black intelligentsia’.”
“Recently there has been much discussion about the demise of protest theatre. Theatre makers during the apartheid era were an important political voice and thespian activism was one of the cornerstones of the creative arts. The new generation of protest theatre echoes the passion, but is very different in style and aesthetic. With the rise of social media and the speed with which information is disseminated Monday’s headline grabbing topics are often lining cat litter trays by the end of the week. The nub of prevailing socio-political discourse however remains a constant and it is the voices of the youth that have prevailed.”
“At the very core of Fees Must Fall, Rhodes Must Fall, Remember Khwezi, Respek The Doek, RU Reference, Pay Back The Money, the Pretoria Girls High hair policy saga and a variety of other socio-political movements, the voices of authority which are charging progressive change forth in legal policies and broader social ideology, are the brave voices of the young. I was inspired as an artist to create a work of political satire in the vein of new age protest, in a genre of township sketching - all the while being inclusive, because in South Africa, the black experience is about vast accommodation.”
Maintaining the relevance of the show is crucial to him and his team. “In the format that we devise in, all the work is an ongoing conversation between myself, the cast, the creative team and the audience. I know it all sounds so clichéd and romantic, but it really is just that. We work with engagements and responses, more so than we do with impositions and dictated precepts. We find that this keeps our work relevant, our presentation of it highly nuanced and our approach to its creation very fluid yet extremely decisive” he explains.
His company, the intriguingly named Kiri Pink Nob, states its ethos as utilizing “integrated forms of art as a medium to entertain and educate vast multitudes by creating a wealthy and diverse archive of multi-disciplinary skilled creatives.”
Under this banner he has hosted poetry, spoken word and hip-hop events in a bid to showcase “an array of innovative and refined methods.” The second piece on the double bill Poet.O.Type is more personal where English is choreographed as a featured artist in a dance of linguistics. He says that this is “a passion project. A work of introspection. A memoir. An exploration of what it means for us to be artists now.” Mbothwe describes it as an “intellectual piece, a definition of poetry and poverty - the poetry of the peasant and the poetry of the elite.” The double bill is part of the Artscape Heritage Festival and as the curator Mbothwe continues to test the limits of the festival’s theme Excavate – Restore – Celebrate.
“Excavation may not mean to dig for something that is underground. It may mean something that is lying down that we have been ignoring and we have to lift up. We might be ignoring some healing powers which have been previously undermined” he said. It is not the content alone that drew him to Secret Ballot but the unique style which he predicts will be an influencing factor in contemporary SA theatre.
“They have managed to recreate iconographical moments that have been taken from the past 20 years of our democracy both in text and gestures. They have incorporated games we played as children and subverted them. It embraces the identity from which it comes.”
Describing the work as “brave and courageous”, exposing often uncomfortable truths he says he wouldn’t watch the show with his pastor or his parents.
This is work which is an “introspection of our country in a satirical way. A stimulus to the evolution of our theatre style and a resuscitation of our dominant forms of expression that exist in the place in which we live,” he continues.
While Tshablala’s work is hard -hitting it is, unlike some other satire, highly entertaining, an attribute he is passionate about “I am a huge and unapologetic fan of theatre that just entertains. I work in it. I create it. And I enjoy it. I also know though the value and power of theatre that challenges, inspires, probes and seeks to imagine its world and its people anew. That theatre is crucial to us all, and it need not always be on an orthodox stage in a performance mould.”
This is Kiri Pink Nob’s Cape Town debut and Tshabalala is pleased that it is taking place at the Heritage festival, “I felt that the timing to run them both for the first time ever as a double bill was impeccable. It is a great honour and privilege to be touring this work, and I look forward to being part of such a stellar festival.”
The time seems ripe to ponder our cultural and political heritage, so suspend your tears of frustration at the current political anguish and step into the theatre where you are encouraged to laugh in the face of fear. The revolution may not be televised, but is sure as hell is going to be staged.
l www.artscape.co.za