‘Lepatata’ boldly delves into theatre of wider cultural pool

Omphile Molusi and Thato Malebye in Lepatata. Picture: Neo Ntsoma

Omphile Molusi and Thato Malebye in Lepatata. Picture: Neo Ntsoma

Published Aug 11, 2015

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Kgomotso Moncho-Maripane

There’s a deeper fulfilment that comes with connecting with your heritage and, as a Motswana girl, the first professional Setswana play I saw was Karabo Kgokong and Martin Koboekae’s Kgolo at the Windybrow Theatre.

Five years later, news of the Market Theatre (in partnership with the Windybrow) putting on its first fully Setswana production, Lepatata, brings with it great excitement.

It’s historical for the institution that the Market Theatre is, and important in carving a platform in the mainstream for theatre in indigenous languages.

The politics of why it’s only happening now become trivial when juxtaposed against the thirst this quenches for a veteran actress like Mmabatho Mogomotsi, who’s been yearning to do a play in her mother tongue. “There’s a need for a play like Lepatata right now. Our languages are dissipating because children can’t relate to what they can’t see,” she says.

For artistic director James Ngcobo, it was about responding to the language policy of the constitution and creating a work for posterity.

“We have to start telling stories in our own languages. It’s equally important to take a pause and look back – not in anger, but in a space of memory for our children, and to celebrate the history and culture in our languages. Historically, Gauteng was the cradle of the Batswana people, so this production pays tribute to the history and people of this place,” he says.

Ngcobo is pragmatic about delving into theatre of a wider cultural pool – whether it works or not, he believes it has to be tried. However, the success of As Die Broek Pas, the theatre’s first wholly Afrikaans production in 20 years, has injected some confidence.

Ngcobo commissioned playwright Moagi Modise to write Lepatata, a tenacious love affair and a contest for leadership set in the aftermath of a battle for land between the Batlhaping and the Khoikhoi/Boer alliance in the 1800s. The word Lepatata refers to a kudu horn – an instrument that unifies tribes and disseminates important information. Different tunes relay different messages and here it’s a symbolic thread that binds the story together.

“This is the first play in Setswana that I’ve written and it’s inspired by part of our oral history,” says Modise. “The story of Kgosi Saku is one I heard years ago from my grandmother about a warrior Motlhaping chief who fought the Boers and the Khoikhoi for land in Magogong in the Taung region and the plight that came with his demise.”

Kimberley is the resting place of author, journalist and politician Thekisho Solomon Plaatjie, who helped spread the Setswana language by translating Shakespeare’s works into Setswana and translating thousands of Setswana proverbs and idioms into English.

Modise’s text is rich in idioms, and director Makhaola Ndebele finds that beautiful to explore. “There’s beauty in the idioms. Culturally, there’s the specificity of how the people view the world. The text parallels with history and it was revealing how a lot has changed and a lot hasn’t,” Ndebele says.

His challenge was to keep the story specific and broaden it for other people without playing it for them. In the end, he leaned on the language of theatre. “There will be no subtitles. But the costumes reflect the clash of the west and the indigenous – the encroaching of the west into that period. We have captured the sound, so you have a sense of the rural time. The language of theatre helps relay the universality of how we do things as human beings. The themes are human themes – love and the fight for power,” he says.

l Lepatata premiers at the Barney Simon Theatre for a limited season from tomorrow until August 30.

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