Durban – The city is in for a rare theatrical treat from November 4 to November 9 when actress Mpume Mthombeni delivers her spectacular one-woman tour de force “Isidlamlilo the Fire Eater” to the Sneddon.
Isidlamlilo is a collaboration between Mthombeni, who portrays Agatha on e.tv’s Durban Gen, and acclaimed theatre director Neil Coppen, with stage design by Greg King, lighting by Tina le Roux, and sound design by Tristan Horton.
The play debuted at this year’s National Arts Festival to standing ovations and rave reviews, with critic Steve Kretzeman writing: “Woven together from true stories and testimonials, with a near flawless presentation and delivery, Isidlamlilo expands our horizons so often constricted by fears real and imagined, and imparts some of the courage the dispossessed must daily muster to continue to live.
“This is excellent theater.”
Mthombeni, an award-winning actor from uMlazi, has been on stage, radio, film, and television.
In 2012, her performance in Tin Bucket Drum, which toured New York, garnered international recognition.
Animal Farm, Soil & Ash, NewFoundLand, Ulwembu, The Last Country, and Lalela uLwandle are among his theater credits.
Over the course of eighty minutes, Mthombeni tells the life narrative of Zenzile Maseko in a straightforward, humorous, and fascinating manner.
Maseko, a grandmother in her sixties, rents a tiny room in a Durban women’s hostel and is haunted by her past as an IFP assassin (fire-eater) during the 1994 election campaign.
Mpume Mthombeni narrates the tale of Zenzile Maseko, a grandmother in her sixties who is plagued by her past as an IFP assassin.
When Home Affairs incorrectly declares her dead and is unable to reverse the error on its system, she is thrust into a Kafkaesque nightmare, compelled to take desperate measures to prove she is still alive and, in the process, forced to reawaken aspects of her identity and past that she has spent the majority of her adult life suppressing.
Maseko’s drama effortlessly pulls us back and forth across time, traveling KwaZulu-altering Natal’s landscapes and tracing the province’s post-1994 history.
While the novel offers a critical examination of the intergenerational cycles of violence and vengeance, it is mostly about redemption, regeneration, and reinvention.
Coppen and Mthombeni wrote the script based on a variety of testimonials shared with them.
Elements of Zulu culture, biblical mythology, and magical realism have been weaved together to create an extraordinary theatrical experience that speaks to the country’s dark history and present-day difficulties.
Isidlamlilo occurs on November 4, 5, and 8 at 7 p.m., as well as on November 6 at 2.30 p.m.
On November 9 at 11 a.m., a special school performance will take place.
There is an age limit of 13 and over.
Ticket prices are R130 via Computicket or by calling 0861 915 800.
For bookings for schools and community theaters, contact Margie at [email protected] or 083 251 9412.
Saturday’s Independent newspaper