It wasn’t long ago that I went to catch the showing of Woza Albert, which was a remake of the original theater satirical play written by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon In 1983. I was a kid and I didn’t know too much about theater then.
My introduction to theatre though was at the Barney Simon theatre and watching Nothing But The Truth with John Kani, which kicked me into an awareness about protest theatre.
I eventually saw two stagings of it, one with Siyabonga Twala and another recently with Hamilton Dhlamini.
Of course Asinamali twice I think.
And at that point I realized the power of protest theatre and how protest theater served as a mechanism
1) as an outlet to many people who were decrying a very unfair and unjust system, but also
2) An indicator of how Theatre is a powerful medium to send a message:
About social Issues that might be at the hearts of many who don’t have enough words or even enough courage to say.
But I also became aware, as I watched the latter stagings of many of the classical South African theatre pieces, how out of place sometimes the works could be.
Sarafina, perhaps Mbongeni Ngema’s most famous production, is an example of how how this dissonance would present itself for me, and how when I caught it as a movie (I never saw the original play
– just the latter stagings, including one featuring the Naledi Award winning Palesa Makhalima), it was inspiring and stirring pre-1994 and how since, its relevance started shifting more and more towards the dichotomous tension of memory and desire.
I have stopped watching any showings of it but I continue to bask in the music and the images it triggers in my memory. I can deal easier with that dissonance.
With the passing of Mbongeni Ngema it serves us perhaps to remember the history of theatre and its role yet again: Both in how it contributed in the emergence of our no longer so shiny democratic dispensation and a provocation on what role it plays today.
A year or so ago I hosted a State of Jazz Colluquim at the Soweto Theatre and one of the questions that emerged out of the conversation was : what is the role of protest on Jazz and what role can it play today?
In what was perceived to be the demise of theatre and dwindling audiences, could it be we ran out of things to protest about? More than protest could it be that creatives have lost touch with what is relevant for the audiences of today?
Someone asked the question is there new protests that we have to be paying attention to?
And sometime this year I went to attend Peter Dirk Uys performance at the Montecasino. And again this question presented itself as he was doing the retrospective of his earlier works and the stories theater makers needed to tell today.
What is the reason for theater more than entertainment today? What is driving stories we need to tell? Have we run out of things to say?
Perhaps even an important question should theater continue to be protest or can we just celebrate the gains we have made and Project a future we want to see and be nice?
And yes too many questions in this reflection, but can it be both?
Can we celebrate and decry at the same time?
And today with the passing of Mbongeni Ngema, who in many ways was at the center of protest theater in the late 70s, Most of the 80s and the 90s and parts of the early 2000s, these are perhaps important points to ponder as we pause to mourn our loss.
So from Asinamali, Sarafina, Magic at 4 a.m to The Zulu, perhaps there are lessons here for all of us in the creative community, that we could learn, from the man whom it seemed, was a giant in some ways, and like all of us human in others.
Lessons perhaps about paying attention to the shift in the psyche of the country and audiences and continuing to ask questions about the role all of us, theatermakers, administrators, philanthropists, etc play and whether we are in touch.
In 2023, we have lost a lot of creatives. From movies to music, stage, television and everything in between, and many of them at a young age.
It is probably then a good time to sit and reflect yet again, on the state of the Arts and where we are. And what work needs to be done by us as participants.
As a participant within the creative industry both from the music, dance as well as philanthropy perspective.
It gives me pause today, these meandering reflections, not just on the passing of a legend, but the ending of the year and what it means for a new year we are going into.
And perhaps reframing some of the work that some of us might need to look into doing differently.
Given that we are now in the director’s chair.
The Museletter 
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