Double Bill: Sekwatlapa and 13
Sekwatlapa writer/director: Marlon Khoza
Performers: Phillip Dikotla and Martin Ngwepe
13 writer/director: Mncedisi Shabangu
Performer: Bongiwe Given Lunga
Where: Market Theatre's Barney Simon Theatre
When: until April 5
Rating: HHHII
Some of the productions that have come out of the Market Theatre Laboratory's Zwakala Festival have been windows into others communities.
The picks of Zwakala 2008 festival, Sekwatlapa and 13, are staged professionally as a double bill. Both plays were swift and short so they worked well.
Marion Khoza's Sekwatlapa takes us to Limpopo and reveals that democracy is still something that hasn't yet been felt by everyone in the country, especially farm workers. Set on a white-owned orange farm, it's a bitter-sweet tale of two friends, Joromiya and Maponya, who drop out of school to become labourers. Conflict arises between the friends, and one is killed.
The humour of this two-hander, performed in Sepedi, broken English and Afrikaans, lies in the use of languages. It's physical theatre, but the charm lies in its simplicity and lingering melancholy.
The animation style of Mncedisi Shabangu's 13 forces the audience to use its imagination - that's the challenge. It's a one-hander, a love story gone wrong. Thabisile (Bongiwe Lunga) falls in love with Collen from Witbank. He dies a week before the day set aside for lobolo proceedings.
The families decide to continue with the ceremony without Thabisile's consent. The moral line 13 draws is that: It's easy to judge other people's actions without knowing the facts.