By BRUCE DENNILL
Isitha Sabantu / Directed by Neil Coppen / Mannie Manim Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johanneburg
Neil Coppen and Mpume Mthombeni, along with Dr Dylan McGarry, founded Empatheatre, a research-based theatre company that focuses on complex topics and situations, helping to bring those subjects into the public eye and discourse through staged productions. As such, it’s not a surprise that Isitha Sabantu has “activism” and “environmental justice” as keywords in its marketing materials. It’s also not a surprise, though, that a paragraph built around those themes might polarise theatre fans wanting an entertaining night out, particularly when those fans note that the script is a mix of Zulu and English and so might require a little more effort for audience members only fluent in one of those languages. But these facets – detailed research and dedication to authenticity in storytelling – are just two of the aspects that, once you’re in the theatre, reveal this play to be an utterly extraordinary piece of work.
The production features bits of everything – straight theatre, gorgeous choral ensemble singing, music, intricate puppet work, miniature sets and physical theatre, all linked with complex bilingual dialogue, characters that are sometimes good and bad in the same arc and interactions with both set elements (beach sand, notably) and the audience (briefly breaking the fourth wall). All of these components are superbly crafted and brilliantly rehearsed and prepared for, resulting in a cast – of 12 – that, while each character is sharply defined, feels like it operates as a lithe, shifting and multidimensional organism.
This all helps to give the themes the weight and respect they deserve. The central story has to do with the threat imposed by the expansion of a coal mine and the effect it will have on a local community. This is adapted from Henrick Ibsen’s An Enemy Of The People (the Zulu translation of which is Isitha Sabantu), in which a small-town spa is contaminated, with worrying ramifications for public health. In both plays, how the central environmental and cultural issues are approached by different characters creates conflict and drama, and understanding that Ibsen’s piece is nearly 150 years old does little to build confidence in humanity’s capacity to improve in terms of ethics, greed and compassion.
The entire story – and production – revolves around Mam Nomsa (Mthombeni), a formidable older woman who has seen similar scenarios play out before and the risks of standing up to big business and corrupt politicians, and who still chooses to take the strongest possible stance in opposition to their plans, no matter the risks. She is supported by some of her close friends and family (Minenhle Sikhosana as a brash, sassy friend and Zesuliwe Hadebe as her brave but conflicted daughter give notable performances) while being painfully let down by others (including her nephew, played by Tony Miyambo, and her brother, played by Sabelo Sekgoto). The convoluted emotional journey – including bitter pain – this takes her and those around her on is what makes Isitha Sabantu thoroughly compelling for all of its prodigious running time (over three hours). It’s an epic tale given epic scale in the depth of the writing, how carefully all of that detail is interpreted by the performers and in the clever, creative way everything is staged, from the set to the sound and lighting design.
Such rich texture is the reward for staying the distance – temporally, emotionally and intellectually – for a play and a production that doesn’t try to make anything smooth and easy in its presentation of a situation, one that’s too close to too many contemporary real-world scenarios for comfort, that has nuances, perspectives and counter-perspectives that mean almost no answer anyone gives is the final word on any of the subjects at hand.
Isitha Sabantu is a tough watch because there is a lot to process – on every level and for the duration of the piece. But if you invest, it gives you rewards of such profound meaning and, ultimately, beauty, you might need as much time again after the show to process what you have seen while the lights were down.
Astounding.