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Joe's Diary...
17th March 2005 – Day 1
Thembalithle School, Soweto, South Africa
We returned to the school staff room where 2 years ago Ntinti, Nunki (Vulavulani), David, Sylvia, Sarah (Action Transport) and I had one of the worst meetings of my life. Then, we were unable to make progress on how VTC should, or could, develop – we later came to understand that Ntinti and Nunki’s levels of commitment to Vulavulani had become different. This was an unspoken problem which got in the way. At the time, our tentativeness with each other, and our cultural dance around each other did not allow us to get at this.
Cut to 2005 and Ntinti is in charge, leading the morning session dynamically and effectively. He has already worked out and agreed a budget for this development week with Nkosana (his Chair) and withdrawn the money; the necessary preparation work on the themes and areas of interest for the play has been done, and we are off and running. Within an hour of us starting the six of us are already talking gogo’s, children, myths, townships and rural areas. It’s a fantastic start to the week.
Ntinti’s confidence has grown massively. He is gathering around him a group of committed and talented artists. Mbuso has toured the world with Market Theatre shows and is a soap star – at 44 he has valuable experience and ideas to bring. Sizwe is Sizwe – warm, funny, articulate and excited. Thabang is Ntinti’s friend and right-hand man, taking notes, learning and contributing valuable ideas. Nokuthula joins us in the afternoon having been performing at the Civic Theatre in the morning. Later in the day over dinner Ntinti will tell Kevin and I that this is the year that Vulavulani will make things happen.
Ntinti is beginning to get people to play to their strengths – he’s delegating more and encouraging different people to lead different processes. He’s asked Sizwe to facilitate the morning session tomorrow with five gogo’s – a smart move!
Kevin’s contribution is important. Having an experienced story/play-maker in at this stage is vital, particularly his ability to ask pertinent questions and draw together ideas and possible strands for a play. He and I work well together, his focus being specifically on the play and mine being on that but the partnership too.
Why was the day so good? All sorts of reasons, but perhaps fundamentally because now as companies and individuals we know and absolutely trust each other. There is no tension between what Vulavulani and Action Transport want artistically and socially. Ntinti is earning money over a reasonable period of time (through directing fees for Tselane’s Song and Gogo) and is thriving on this security.”
18th March 2005 – Day 2
Thembalithle School, Soweto, South Africa
We arrive to all the children in the playground excited, singing, greeting us and looking forward to their holidays – the last day of term.
A morning of interviewing the gogo's, led and kept on track by Sizwe. A real air of expectation ahead of the day, with a strong sense of respect (and fear!) of the gogo’s. We understood that these women’s lives and journeys hold key information for the play – but also that these are dominant women who could easily lead us off in their own direction.
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We’d been advised that Kevin and my presence might inhibit the gogo’s – maybe they would fear that we were remnants of the apartheid era, not to be trusted with personal information that might be used against them.
But no problems here – within twenty minutes they were into their stride and impossible to shut up. They almost always spoke in their respective first languages. At the end of the session they would explain how happy and privileged they felt to be part of the process. They are old women with knowledge and beliefs which are increasingly undervalued (and there are examples of gogo’s being beaten and killed by people who fear they are witches), so to be given a platform to talk about themselves and their beliefs was great for them.
All three of them are activists in their own way – one a school governor and adoptive Gogo to all the pupils, one a bishop, one running a dance/arts project for young people in her community. By the end of the session they saw the value and potential of our project.
The information we got was valuable, so too the interaction. A few highlights:
- A passionate and detailed explanation of the value of cooking traditional food. They spend hours cooking and believe that good food has kept them healthy. After they had told us all this they tucked into the crisps and biscuits provided.
- We watched all three melt with pride and love when they talked about their own children and grandchildren (many adopted and not of their blood). All three were strict disciplinarians and softies too. To understand them we must realize that “it is all about love”.
A side note. For the first time in our three year partnership I had a glimpse of a time when, from Vulavulani's point of view, our partnership will not be based at least partly on need. I can see that, if progress continues, this company will become autonomous, successful and long-lasting. It was a wonderful, strange and fleeting moment.
Day 3 –
Thembalithle School, Soweto, South Africa
Work on character and story. The most successful sessions so far have been led by someone, so we agree that Kevin and Ntinti will lead the day.
We begin by revisiting the Gogo, Mamkhize. We work from a real person and then add in characteristics which are useful to us, and lose anything we don’t want. Then, in pairs, we work out 3 key moments in the play and present them in still images (I enjoy playing Gogo). We try to make the images connect to what our play is really about – the clash between modern and traditional, young and old, the breaking down of barriers leading to growth and blossoming.
We then work on the journeys of the main characters – the Gogo, the children, the dog, the cow, the uncle. Individually we write the story of the play from one of the characters points of view. Some great discoveries, such as the dog’s unhappiness since the children have arrived, as he no longer gets any decent meat from Gogo, just bones. Sizwe is a very funny dog.
And then we do the exercise of writing a scene headline, or description of an event, on a piece of paper – “the kids meet Gogo for the first time and she scares them away”. We write as many good scene headlines as we can individually on a piece of paper, then try and place them in a chronological line on the floor.
How do they connect to each-other – which scenes lead to others? What are the connections? Which events could happen in the same scene? The first skeleton of the play begins to emerge. This is a great method of getting people’s ideas and wants for the play down on paper, also for capitalizing on people’s ideas (we don’t all have to agree at this stage). By the end of the session we have 25 events jostling for position.
Then we focus on the beginning few events, seeing what gives us best value for our play. This is then improvised and we (probably) discover the beginning of our play:
The sun is setting as the children arrive. They ask the audience where they can find Mamkhize.
They approach the house. There is a wall around it.
A fierce dog barks and won’t let the intruders in.
Gogo comes out and frightens the two `strangers’ away. She has never seen these children before. Gogo goes back into the house.
The dog barks more and more as the kids steal fruit from the Gogo’s garden.
The children sleep in a tree some way from Gogo’s house. The dog is content.
We have a beginning. The combination of approaches, along with very good leadership of the session from Kevin, was fruitful – and now I’m tired. We must remember to leave space for traditional stories, songs and dance to find their way into the play. But of course Kevin and I have no idea what these will be.
Day 4 –
The Zoo, Soweto, South Africa
The usual suspects are here plus a pregnant Nomthandazo Cheele (Vulavulani’s Administrator) and hello to Nokuthula on a day off from the Civic Theatre.
More notesy today:
Kevin and I got sunburn – I looked like a panda in negative exposure with big white eyes by tea time.
Nokuthula’s input was very good today. She’s a born performer and thinks about plays differently to Ntinti and Sizwe – she doesn’t think from a teacher’s perspective. She will be great as the 12 year-old Soweto chick lost at sea in the country.
Kevin asks what animal people most want to see. Sizwe says a rabbit.
We come up with the idea of Gogo being bitten by a snake and this linking in to traditional stories and ways of healing.
The zoo is a wonderful place – beautiful, calm, and leisurely. It is the only place I’ve been in SA where blacks and whites seem completely `at peace’ with each other. I felt and saw no tension all day long in there.
So of course I spend the day mulling over theories as to why this should be: maybe there is a separate but shared sense of tradition in the animals, a strong feeling of connection to nature in both cultures? For future visitors, the zoo is definitely recommended relaxation.
Day 5 – Breakfast meeting (with no breakfast) with Ntinti followed by story-making at Thembalithle School, Soweto, South Africa.
Between 8 and 10 I meet with Ntinti and we talk through company issues, particularly potential problems with Vulavulani’s tour of “Dumisani’s Drum” in Soweto in May. It’s proving difficult to get all the interested parties to commit to the same project at the same time. Ntinti is taking all this in his stride – his company has already decided to create and tour this show and he’s not going to be told by anyone that he can’t do it. Very encouraging, and just right for the company.
Cheshire County Council had, in the past, raised money to invest in partnership projects between Cheshire and Guateng Province schools. Some of this money remains and will be invested in “Dumisani’s Drum” and it’s worth remembering just how valuable this relatively small amount of money is. With it Vulavulani will re-create and tour a show for three weeks and only have to invest R10,000 of their own. Money really does make the world go round.
So to the show. We carried on looking to develop the plot, or events, of the play. First we hot-seated two of the characters – the boy and the uncle who sends the children away. Some good discoveries – the boy (10, 11) tries hard to be cool and is very mannish in his ways. He’ll be good fun in the country – asked to milk a cow he said “No way am I touching it’s ….things!” Sizwe again very entertaining.
And then Kevin asked us to write down on individual bits of paper more events which we wanted to see in the play. The trick is to keep these active – (“she throws the children out” rather than “She feels terrible”). We then try to place the events, or scenes, in an order, so you end up with 40 events in a line from beginning to end.
This line of events can now be tested – does it work? Is it realistic? Exciting? Dramatic? Does it communicate what our play is fundamentally about – the clash of modern day and traditional, lost people, the power of love?
This is a great technique and by the end of the day we have the first ten minutes of the play structured, we have a sense of the ending, we have an adventure into the bush in the last third of the play, and we are stuck in the middle. At the start of the day we simply had the first scenes and lots of ideas. Good work Kevin, leading us through this.
Kevin and I finally get some exercise, playing catch with a beanbag on the grass.
