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ZemQadini

(Bhekani Shabalala & Bongani Mbatha. Pic by Val Adamson)


 Moving Acts Production and National Arts Festival are presenting a physical theatre piece called ZamQadini written by Sboniso Msimang and directed by Philisiwe Twijnstra and assistance director Thamsanqa Khumalo, with a formidable Durban cast; Bhekani Shabalala and Bongani Mbatha.

ZemQadini is a narrative inspired by the war that happened in the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal in 1998 just four years post-apartheid when the eZembeni community and EmaQadini community were fighting over the physical placement of the Chief.

The war of the mind is rarely spoken about as to how it collects and stores realities, and what kind of engagement does this memory do to a wounded body? What happens when a body is not fit to hold memories?

The play touches on how War Veterans living with PTSD and association disorder, bouncing from reality to memory. It explores how memory becomes a dried-up cement on one's feet, unable to move forward or backward.

The style is a physical piece, using storytelling to survive being disowned by the mind. This play touches on memory and reality framed by friendship and war, as a story unfolds when rivalry villages are in conflict, and nailed and pinned a tribal war, and taxi violence.

Dumi’s inability to see and Vuyo’s inability to walk forces them to function as one person but a person that has no ability of walking away from their situation and no chance of seeing ahead.

They are stuck in their non-existence forced to look back to make sense. They are subdued by nightmares and selectively recollect memories. Trapped by the wars of the past and the ongoing battles within, Vuyo and Dumi relive the battlefield daily. Tale of friends bruised by the war.

The narrative emphasises the importance of looking at the past as a way of moving forward.

There are no winners at war, just the ones who survive to tell the tale.

Performances will take place during the National Arts Festival at Princess Alice in Makhanda on June 24, 2023  (10:00);  June 25, 2023   (16:30);June 26, 2023   (14:30) and June 26, 2023   (20:30)

Tickets R60


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