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Week Three 21st - 28th January
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| On Monday and Tuesday, Tracy and Angelina put the finishing touches to their paintings. The final result is very surprising, and they seem pleased. They do, however, make some small adjustments to harmonise the whole picture. The central bed transforms into house with a roof, doors, and a balcony, then two large flats with numerous doors and windows, four little flats, and finally two low walls. The set in situ has taken on a new dimension. The perspective works really well, the smallest structures being nearest to the audience and the largest being furthest away (not as in real life at all) The pupils of the school happily watch all of this building. We have cordoned off the immediate area to avoid any accidents. It is very tempting to jump into the bed, and to play with the doors and windows. |  |
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From Tuesday onwards Luc, Tracy and Martial learn about the technical side of the show. Luc is the stage manager behind the scenes to help with the props (the name given to the objects used by the performers) and the scene changes. Tracy helps to put the set in place and then is in charge of filming the rehearsals. Martial becomes the sound technician. It can be difficult to stay concentrated and calm, as there is a lot of noise and general hullabaloo. The teachers of the school keep a vigilant eye on their pupils during the break times. We are trying to keep some surprises for the audiences on Friday and Saturday. |
This week Ayse, Martin and the children rehearse in the real space for
the first time. Lots of fun is had with the perspective and everyone seems
at ease with the theatrical space. The weather has become unpredictable
and every now and then rehearsals have to move in doors. Costumes are tried
out for the first time. They have a definite bed time feel about them with
the children dressed in white vests and shorts. The parents wear white pyjamas
and vests.  The
children discover that one needs discipline and an excellent memory to be
a stage performer. You must not forget your props, your exits and entrances,
you have to listen to the cues given by the different pieces of music -
and that is apart from all the dancing, acting and singing. The school helps
by taking care of the organization of the audience; we debate whether the
audience needs chairs to sit on. The team decide that sitting on the grass
is best as more people can see and besides the grass looks very green and
inviting. The school lends us a generator just in case the electricity is
cut-we would not be able to have any music if that happened. On Thursday
Martail and Luc leave early in the morning to erect sign posts to help audiences
from Johannesburg and Pretoria find the school. Luc, Tracy and Angelina
have painted many little painting that are cut in half and become a kind
of puzzle. These will be given to the audience as they get on the bus in
Johannesburg, they have to match their half otherwise they won't be allowed
in to see the show!!! Luc and Thokozani will man the checkpoint - they both
take their duties very seriously. |
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We have written a little leaflet in Ndebele announcing the show. This has been distributed amongst the neighbouring schools. There will be two shows, the one on Friday afternoon for school children and another on Saturday morning for everyone. Thursday it rains. We are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow. Friday 2:30 the show begins. Mother and father (Ayse and Martin) are fast asleep in their huge bed, disturbed only by the occasional mosquito, and distant cockerels crowing. One, then two, then three, and then eleven children appear in the bed. |
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sleepwalkers have a little walk around the bed. The parents get up earlier
than their children. They slip out of bed to do their daily 'waking up'
dance to the sound of fanfare, holding on to two Chu Chus. Mother sounds
the alarm clanging her Chu Chu whereupon one after the other the children
awake. What a noisy start to the day. The scenery transforms, the huge white
sheet drops away to reveal doors to the house, a window is put into place
and a pointed roof magically appears. Mummy and Daddy appear on the balcony
and whilst watering the flowers they just happen shower all their children.
After the family's bath time and on hearing a loud whistle, everyone stands
in line to choose the person who will do the sweeping today. The broom gets
passed along the line several times until it is obvious that today it is
Bafana's turn. He starts to sweep, discovers a cord buried in the dust.
He calls out to his brothers and sisters to help him and with one massive
tug a new house appears. |
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Another cord. And look! Another house.. Three houses facing the audience. Our family is very much awake and embark on discovering these new houses, they play hide and seek with a rabbit (remember Christopher with his Umthanyelo). He sits next to the audience and calmly watches everyone race around looking for him. After all this excitement Sophie finds herself all alone and dances a beautiful, strange solo. She takes off her Chu Chu hat and using it as a loudspeaker announces "Tea time". Alas her bottomless teapot contains no water. Luckily Excellent pops his head out from a window with a teapot full of water... lots of water... aaaaaah too much water. The teacups overflow and the boys start to fill big colourful basins. The boys decide to make use of all of this water and start to wash their t-shirts. The girls watch them from behind a tree, and one by one four little houses appear behind the boys. The whole family sings and dances, finishing the washing, and goes back into the house sensibly (for once).
Nelly finds herself all alone and has fun balancing brooms on her arms; Excellent creeps up on her and challenges her to a dual with a fine long... broom. They are soon joined by the rest of the clan and a chaotic, acrobatic battle ensues- much noise and dust. Parents arrive just in time to stop this uproar - the children very quickly disappear indoors. Mother and Father dance a duet of brooms and desire, and soon their anger is forgotten. The children, hidden behind a forest of brooms, creep up on them and they get swallowed back in to their family - every one peeks at the audience through the straw. A finale dance with the brooms ensues. But it is not quite over yet as the family arrives in two buses (actually they are the long walls that will enclose the house and complete the courtyard). They realise that they have placed the walls too near to the house and the audience has been left out in the cold. Every one gets back into the bus, drives carefully through the audiences and finally puts the walls on the other side of the audience. Now they find themselves on the inside of a brightly painted, Franco/Ndebele home... Bye Bye everyone... Salani Guhle... Au revoir...
Its finished. Around 500 pupils from village schools came, they laughed, they applauded and seemed to have a lot of fun. Every one is very happy. A street theatre company from the township of Benoni came to visit us and we have lots of experiences to share. No time for a party though, tomorrow morning there is another show to do. Saturday morning - 150 people form Johannesburg and Pretoria join the audience from the village. Everyone enjoys the show and the picnic afterwards in the field under the trees. Martial takes some people on a tour of the artists studios, the painted houses in the village, and explains a little of the history of Ndebele wall painting.
One party is over….a second one is going to start in the evening when all the cast and helpers are going to have a braai (a barbecue) in the garden of our house and dance, dance, dance under the stars. Three weeks of discovery, of research, stress, exchange, and pleasure. We all feel that the outcome has been a success. Sunday 28th January, Ayse and Martin are returning to London and Paris respectively. Martial is also returning to Paris after 15 months in South Africa. We say good bye to everyone. We have been very moved by the commitment to the project, the adult team, the children, their school everyone... lots of energy and generosity.
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This week the set building team has changed their role. Luc needs to put
all the elements of the set into the actual space (outside the Simuyembiwa
School). Everybody helps. On Monday evening the largest piece of the set
(the huge bed) is firmly in place, positioned in between two of the school
buildings. The two large flats have pulleys and ropes attached to them,
this will help the company to pull the flats to an upright position during
the show. The biggest problem facing the team is how to protect the wooden
set from the rain and wind. Luc and Thokozani, resourceful as ever, make
a huge plastic pillowcase that can cover all the structures once they
have been stacked together.
