{"id":164,"date":"2014-10-01T09:22:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T07:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=164"},"modified":"2025-08-18T12:46:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:46:40","slug":"surviving-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=164","title":{"rendered":"Surviving Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Giving Birth to My Father<\/em>, admittedly, I expected something completely different, something that involved the woman creating a whimsical world filled with imaginary friends and the what-not. But I was pleasantly surprised at how the production turned out.<\/p>\n

It was well realised, and although shorter than advertised, well developed.<\/p>\n

Nomathemba (Lihle Dhlomo) lost her mother young but was lovingly raised by her grandmother until she was 19. She then journeys to Johannesburg to search for her father who she\u2019s never met.<\/p>\n

A victim of circumstance, tragedy strikes the na\u00efve young woman\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Hlengiwe Ntombela. The name of dread. The name that haunts her in her prison cell. The name that put her there. The choice to have this name written out on the stage highlights its ever-presence in her life. Hlengiwe Ntombela took Nomathemba\u2019s life away from her. Twice.<\/p>\n

Dhlomo is totally natural and deeply invested as she shifts between characters (gogo, father, Ntombela, a prostitute). Nothing is forced, and one gets the sense that, as Nomathemba, she is playing these roles\u2026 In part to keep the people alive for her, and in part because they\u2019re all she knows from \u2018that other world, out there\u2019.<\/p>\n

In her cell she repeats, \u201cI want to stay here\u201d. It\u2019s all she\u2019s come to know. Even the cups banging bars comfort her. She feels safely contained by \u201cthese four walls\u201d wherein she\u2019s god of her world.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Nomathemba \u2018transforms\u2019 into her father, removing her prison jumpsuit, redressing for the outside world. The shyly embarrassed look she gives as she pulls her pants down, speaks to the sexual innocence she still has. She was a teenager when locked up. How will she cope with the changed world, two decades later?<\/p>\n

And is her father really there? Or the final step in manifesting the figure she\u2019s imagined..? Will her deeply damaged psyche \u2018make it\u2019 in the real world?<\/p>\n

Directed and written by Wiseman Mncube, Giving Birth to My Father<\/em> is gently crafted and is excellently performed by Dhlomo. From within Nomathemba\u2019s story, the work asks questions about rehabilitation and dehumanisation in the prison (and justice) systems.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a worthwhile production, and needs more than our measly audience of 5 yesterday. \u2013 Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Giving Birth to My Father<\/em> is on tonight (01\/10) @ 6pm @ Alexander Bar. Click here for production info<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Giving Birth to My Father, admittedly, I expected something completely different, something that involved the woman creating a whimsical world filled with imaginary friends and the what-not. But I … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[152,293,465,547,929],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5291,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions\/5291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}