SPOKEN work artist and rapper Iain “Ewok” Robinson began performing his one-man spoken word theatre shows at The Catalina Theatre in 2004, as part of a Catalina initiative called Blue Monday Platform.
This week he returns to that stage partly in commemoration of his past with the Catalina when he stages Back to Blue Monday at the Musho! Festival.
Conceived and performed by himself with visual artistry by Karen Melissa Logan, we caught up with Ewok to find out more about his show.
“It’s going to be a bit of a retrospective, with pieces from all of the Musho! writing that I’ve done since 2005, like my personal favorites. I am working on a new show so it will be cool to settle some perspective before launching into creating some new material,” he explained.
Ewok said the show is a spoken word performance, but he will be talking through some of the pieces to give them context out-side of the shows they were written for.
“Karen takes my work and lets her imagination go with it. She aims to provide some additional texture to the pieces using film,” he added.
Looking back on his journey in the arts, Ewok said he credits Durban for the drive he has in the industry.
“Durban, our scene, where if there is no work, you make work. The artists who learn to sustain themselves in Durban are people who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
“Durbanites don’t just perform on stages, they build them. I owe my career to this city and a scene that supports itself before expecting anyone else to.”
• Back to Blue Monday, Friday, 8pm, Catalina Theatre.