{"id":4459,"date":"2021-07-13T16:18:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T15:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4459"},"modified":"2021-07-13T16:18:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T15:18:52","slug":"commission-continua-the-powers-in-the-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4459","title":{"rendered":"COMMISSION CONTINUA: The power’s in the paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\u201cHistory is the fruit of\npower, but power itself is never so transparent that its analysis\nbecomes superfluous. The ultimate mark of power may be its\ninvisibility; the ultimate challenge, the exposition of its roots<\/em>.\u201d\n– Michel-Rolph Trouillot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If indeed, as instructed by Trouillot, the mark of power is its invisibility, COMMISSION CONTINUA<\/a><\/em> confronts the ultimate challenge of exposing its roots. The roots of power are made tangible through substance: Paper! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paper\nplays a significant role in our lives, so ubiquitous that we hardly\ngive it a second thought. Within this production we feel the presence\nof paper; weighty, creased, folding and unfolding. Through\narchives, filing, printing and photocopying. But of course, it\u2019s\nnot just about the material, it\u2019s also about processes the material\npoints to, as noted by the writers: \u201cPaper\ndoesn\u2019t blush \u2013 and mountains of paper seem to be an essential\nupshot of the numerous investigation commissions that have existed,\nand still exist, in South Africa.<\/em>\u201d\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMMISSION\nCONTINUA<\/em> probes\nSouth Africa\u2019s struggle for justice and true reconciliation through\ncritical and historical consideration of the \u201ccommissions of\ninquiry\u201d attempting\nto account for\ninjustice yet\nrepeatedly undercut by corruption, inaction and incompetence. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nare introduced to Bright\nMaluleke (played by Tony Bonani Miyambo), an archivist of official\ndocuments from various commissions. Maluleke\u2019s daily activities\nexpose some of the most critical and catastrophic moments in the\nnation\u2019s history. The archive is not only a site where memories are\nstore; it becomes a site where such memories are reproduced and\nreconstructed. A sheet\nof paper – flat and mute – contains extreme\nrealities of violence and oppression. Throughout\nthe entire performance, Maluleke is awkward, troubled and anxious,\nperhaps believing that by obsessively copying and filing away painful\nhistories, he might be able to free himself of their burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An\nair of unease lingers, exacerbated\nby a haunting\nsoundtrack achieved\nfrom a loop station and\nmicrophone. Sound is\nemployed to bring forth fragmentation, disruption, repetition,\nlayering. It becomes a\nmaterial able to express nuance. In one instance, two sheets of paper\nand dried tea leaves activate the sonic imagination. The\nleaves shifting between sheets of paper evokes the shovelling of\ndirt onto a coffin, a\nfinal act of honouring the dead as the priest calls upon family and\nfriends: \u201cNext. Next. Next.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nanother scene,\nMaluleke reads a case\nfile containing the\ncircumstances of human\nrights lawyer Bheki Mlangeni\u2019s murder at the hand of apartheid\nsecurity forces. The phrases \u201c swear to tell\u201d and \u201cwitness\nupset\u201d loop over the\nreading, combining\nwith other sounds to eventually\ncrescendo into unbearable\nnoise, and incoherence\nechoing the illogical structure\nof violence continuously\nleading to black death.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life\nEsidimeni, Marikana, police brutality. \u201cI\u2019m trying to understand\nhow we got here,\u201d Maluleke wonders aloud. Evil.\nViolence. Aggression. Inaction. So many commissions, such little\njustice. It seems all we have to show is paper \u2014\naffidavits, testimonies, evidence, draft reports, addendums,\nsubmissions. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMMISSION CONTINUA<\/em> is a powerful and affecting production. Miyambo succeeds in delivering a complex concept with care. Rigorous historical analysis combined with clever use of simple tools (photocopier, a microphone and a loop station) add weight to the production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production\ncredits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n