Charlies stay silent on the why

Silent Voice

Silent Voice

Published Oct 21, 2014

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SILENT VOICE

DIRECTOR: Aubrey Sekhabi

CAST: Tshallo Chokwe, Boitumelo Shisana, Zenzo Ngqobe, Don Mosenue, Motshepe Pusko Kgawane

VENUE: The Golden Arrow Studio, Baxter Theatre

UNTIL: November 1

RATING: ***

AUBREY Sekhabi’s one-act drama is a frighteningly immersive experience and it makes you part of, as well as observer to, a heist and the unravelling of the four participants in the murderous event.

It starts in the dark with gunshots and shouts. As the lights slowly bleed in you realise there are four armed men running around the stage, high on adrenaline, angry with each other for a botched job.

Pursued by the police, they want to get to a safe house, but it’s not so easy and the stage becomes an obstacle course of guard dogs, crazy farmers and police helicopters.

The four men addressing each other as Charlie are on the run and they continue to run through most of the play. Big Charlie (Shisana) is trying to keep the peace, especially in the way he shields the other two from crazy Charlie (Chokwe ) who really earns his name with his shoot-first attitude.

One Ear Charlie (Ngqobe) is the weak link, constantly falling behind because of a bum leg, constantly rubbing crazy Charlie up the wrong way. Academic Charlie just wants to get back home in time to meet his parole officer.

The intimate theatre space means they constantly run in a circle, but they vary the rhythm in enterprising ways. Motshepe Pusho Kgawane remains behind his drums, drawing on a variety of instruments to create a tense atmosphere.

There are two sides to the fright of what you see – one side is the visceral anti-thrill you get from having a gun shoved in your face and being addressed by some menacing fellow who thinks nothing of meting out violence on you.

But, there is also the disheartening side of the flashy events playing out in front of you overtaking what lies beneath. The title suggests either the still voice of reason and conscience, or the true inner voice of the persons in front of you.

This is the lived experience of so many South Africans, being the victim of, or the perpetrator of a violent act. So, if you have been in this situation, this play will give you flashbacks. If you have not, you will be nervously giggling in the corner because you don’t quite know what to do with your fear.

Sekhabi’s earlier works, like Nkonyeni High or Not With My Gun, prove he knows how to tease out an underlying message as well as present an overt narrative. So hopefully he will keep on plugging away at this one until the emotional motivation that lurks beneath is as strong as the obvious violent action and anger we see. Because, these are voices that do not make it on to our stages that often and the whole point of theatre is that it affords you the opportunity to live an experience not your own.

You will walk away from Silent Voice with your body awash in unused adrenaline. But what you will not come away with is a sense of why these men do what they do. They spell out their motivations to rob “for my son” or “to be well-off for when my mother gets out of prison” but never do we understand why they willingly trade their spark of humanity in order to achieve these goals through violent means. And THAT is the silent voice we want to hear.

• From Sunday Presley Chweneyagae takes over from Tshallo Chokwe for the rest of the run.

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