Creating Communitas: The Theatre of Mandla Mbothwe

Abstract

As the auditorium darkens a man at a computer appears, spotlit before us. Frustrated by the isolation of contemporary communica- tion he jumps up and summons us out of our theatre seats and on a journey. An ethereal voice sings from above as we tentatively cross the stage. We are led along a passage where we are confronted by a woman washing cloths, wringing them with anguish as she speaks of her pain. Further along, at another Station of the Cross, a teenage girl tries to rid herself of the horror of rape through cleansing gesture and language. Young men gather for initiation as we are led into a court- yard illuminated by braziers with a mound of earth centrally placed. As we experience the initiation of the protagonist we are drawn into the singing and dancing, into the warmth of the flames, the rough- ness of the earth that covers him and the tingling freshness of the cleansing water. (Isivuno Sama Phupha [Harvest of Dreams], 2007)