Fishers of Hope interrogates the future of one community, writes Diane |de Beer
‘Why do all my plays have a shard of hope?” This was one of the questions director, writer and also the chief executive of Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre wanted to explore when writing her latest play, Fishers of Hope, Taweret.
“I was looking at all these issues surrounding hope, and wondering, if it wasn’t there, what then? Where does it come from? Are we born with it? Do we acquire it?”
How, in fact, does hope work, was what Lara Foot wanted to know.
“We will put it on anything – even negatives or dictators, if there’s nothing else,” she notes.
Think Hitler, or Stalin, for example. “When we’re desperate enough, hope means change.”
The rest of the title, “Taweret”, is the name of a protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility, typically depicted as a hippopotamus. But it is also regarded as one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, a contradiction Foot plays with and uses as a metaphor – this juxtaposition of life and death.
When setting out to write this play, Foot was interested in exploring the psychology of people and their relationships: “When plays deal with African people, it is usually in relation to an incident which is usually violence,” she says.
It then becomes more about the incident than the relationships.
“I wanted to write something that was relationship-based. That doesn’t happen much in South African plays. How do we affect one another?”
She cites Darwin’s Nightmare, an Austrian documentary, as something that inspired her.
It tells the true story of millions of fish disappearing in a specific area and destroying the infrastructure. “Women would prostitute themselves for fish,” she explains. “Not money… fish.” Simply because what was their livelihood was becoming rare.
Exploring the continent rather than the country, which has been her wont, was also liberating: “It opened a different consciousness,” she says. She didn’t want to create social change (like with Tshepang, for example); she found herself in search of something more spiritual which gave her different avenues and opportunities.
“Mncedisi (Shabangu, who worked with Foot in Tshepang and is the storyteller in this one) accompanied me to Kenya when I did research,” says Foot, and since last year’s National Arts Festival where the play premiered, she believes it has grown immeasurably.
Once the writing was finished, they went straight into rehearsals and on stage at the National Arts Festival.
Now it has had time to grow organically. “I think of it as quite a big play,” she says and she’s right.
It is an unusual work from this playwright in many ways. “I’ve given it quite a strong female voice with Lesedi Job in the role,” she says. She feels she is talking for African women. “I was comfortable expressing that.”
Shabangu, in the narrating role, which was written for him, is wonderful to experience. His exuberance and energy brings everything to life; unlocks the door. “I don’t just think of him as a good actor,” says Foot. “Words like ‘phenomenal’ come to mind.”
She has also cast Phillip Dikotla (Skierlik) who she knows is still very young, but she’s excited by his talent.
“He’s grown in the past year,” she says. She also cast him because his character was a thinker and philosopher which immediately makes sense to those who know Dikotla, she says.
Then it was the fisherman John for whom she had to find a particular look. “He had to be scrawny and almost from another world.”
Aubrey Sekhabi stepped in with Phillip Tipo Tindisa.
For the dance, she brought in Shaun Oelf who applied a kind of classical contemporary feel, while the music was composed and is performed by Nceba Gongxeka. The music has grown in this production and Gongxeka has been incorporated into other projects as well.
Similarly with the designer Patrick Curtis, who has worked with Foot on Betrayal and Scrooge.
Something intriguing happened with the accents and language while working on the piece.
“We couldn’t go into the vernacular because I was working with a cast who spoke several languages. Usually they will improvise in the vernacular, but this couldn’t happen.” Because of that, improv happened in dance and music, and while the accents (in English) were all different, they’ve grown a similar sound, she says.
Foot was delighted about the State Theatre run earlier in May. Now, they travel to Vienna and then tour to Durban. “I haven’t been there for years,” she says. “New plays need a chance to grow, they need to travel and be seen.”
Yebo to that!
l Fishers of Hope, the Playhouse Company, Friday to Sunday. Tickets are R80 at Computicket