A NEW international operatic drama will open its South African season in Durban this week. A two-year creative collaboration between South Africa and artists from Europe has culminated in an original production, The Last Anniversary, now ready for a local season.
Tonight spoke to co-artistic collaborator Themi Venturas (South Africa) who teamed up with Laurent Festas (France) to spearhead the project.
“Laurent Festas was in South Africa looking for partners to do an opera project. Through Alliance Francais and Gisele Turner, they told him I do opera and introduced us. The Catalina Theatre signed on and became the official South African partner in this EU project. There have been several residencies in South Africa, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary co-funded by the European Union and their partners.
“The project is called the Hopes and Memories Project. The creation of The Last Anniversary started seven weeks ago.
“I’ve been in France with five other South Africans since August where we lived and worked, deve-loping this piece. Laurent and I wrote the drama, which essentially started out as an opera project.”
Initially the creative team wanted to do The Barrier (Langston Hughes and Jan Meyerowitz), but didn’t have the budget to scale a full opera. They then took some issues raised in The Barrier and turned it into a modern piece. So now we tell the story of Robert Gumede, a South African holidaymaker who gets stopped in a European airport because he is carrying biltong and imphepho (a herb),” explains Venturas.
“He is arrested and put into a zone for suspended travellers. At night when he is in this cell by himself he has these visions and dreams and this is where the four excerpts from the opera come in.
“In telling Robert’s story we look at the issue of racial profiling and migration and how airports have become zones where customs police are kind of a law unto themselves.
“We call it an operatic drama because there are these opera sections and there’s also dance, but essentially it’s a play about this guy and his arrest,” he said.
The cast has been drawn from all five countries and includes opera singers, actor/dancers, musicians and a skilled production team.
Durban dancers Vusi Makhanya and Mdu Mtshali will team up with Caroline Lemiere, Ikki Hoshino and Bertrand Festas from Euroculture en Pays Gentiane in France, and Ezther Sarlos from Zero Ballet in Hungary. Thabang Edward Phiri from Gauteng and Zenneth Cibane from Durban team up with Till Fechner for the operatic voices.
The scenography is designed by Tomaœ Žižka, the lighting design is by Dragan Stojcevski, both of the Czech Republic, with audiovisual design by Michaela Bottkova and Lukas Matejka from Slovakia.
“It’s a mixed bag of interesting intercultural work. Another very successful aspect is the mix between the South African music and this opera.
“So you’ll hear South African Afro-jazz, French jazz, Madala Kunene’s kind of traditional maskandi music, all weaved into the mix with this classical, slightly jazzy opera. It is amazing how well it blends,” said Venturas.
The Last Anniversary premiered in Budapest, Hungary, on October 7, went to Slovakia and then Prague in Czech Republic, with a concert version staged in France.
Commenting on the value of such collaborations, Venturas said: “It’s a meeting of like minds. It does work and is fruitful on a variety of levels. The exposure the South African choreographers and singers got in Europe through this project is already showing results.”
• The Last Anniversary stages at the Stable Theatre, Durban, at 7pm on Friday and at 2pm on Saturday. R100, R50 concessions at Computicket.