{"id":4811,"date":"2022-06-30T12:07:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T11:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4811"},"modified":"2022-06-30T12:08:31","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T11:08:31","slug":"i-stand-accused-the-inheritance-of-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4811","title":{"rendered":"I Stand Accused: The inheritance of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The voice is that primary event that circulates to wrap us in its sonorities, silences and rhythms, and intonations. <\/em> – Brandon LaBelle, Lexicon of the Mouth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nyoung man is sleeping on the makeshift bed on stage \u2014 a thin\nmattress covered with a blanket. A figure hovers above him. She\u2019s\nall in black. Black dress, black doek, dark lipstick and eyes with\nrings of kohl. The only furniture on stage is a medium sized wooden\ntrunk. The young man, Thulani, is agitated and having nightmares.\nWake up Thulani. Laugh Thulani. Run Thulani. Jump Thulani. Skip\nThulani.<\/em> He is hearing voices. His mind is playing tricks on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through\nan impressive cast of six, I Stand Accused <\/em>tells the horrific\nstory of gender based violence. Thulani, having murdered his\ngirlfriend, has to face his conscience, personified by Thuli, the\nwoman in black. Hers is a sadistic and unrelenting spirit whose\nwords, strange utterances and laughter can only be heard by Thulani.\nLaughter. What a strange and funny thing \u2014 at times comforting and\njoyful and at others disconcerting and devious. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nher 2015 text, My Life is a Joke<\/em>, Sheila Heti writes about a\nkind of hell; a ridiculous place where everyone is always laughing.\nShe writes; \u201cit\u2019s like that all the time \u2014 the dogs laugh, the\ntrees laugh, everyone laughs\u2014 whether there\u2019s anything funny or\nnot.\u201d So it is with Thuli. Her continuous laughter is maddening and\nunnerving, a form of torture. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\ncomplexity and nuance, I Stand Accused <\/em>succeeds in reflecting\non gender based violence with a degree of care, allowing us to speak\nabout violence without recreating it and retraumatizing victims. We\nlearn of the brutality Thulani\u2019s mother suffered at the hands of\nhis father through a heart-wrenching letter she wrote before taking\nher own life when he was just a little boy. The process of\nremembering her allows the work of mourning to begin not only for her\nbut for the young woman murdered and stuffed in a wooden trunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nplay leans into aurality as a tool of narration where scenes are\npunctuated by spoken poetry performed by an actor embodying different\ncharacters at different points. By centering the voice, whether that\nof the poet or Thulani\u2019s conscience, the play circulates to wrap us\nin the voice’s sonorities, silences, rhythms and intonations\n(LaBelle:2014). Folk tradition through the poetic becomes a way to\nspeak of the painful aspects of life. In one instance, Thulani\u2019s\nfather poses a question to God \u2014 by way of reciting jazz musician\nBhudaza\u2019s lyrics in the song Tjontjobina \u2014 ha o none keng empa\nonkile mosadi waka <\/em>(why has taking my wife failed to fatten you\nup?). Of course the contradiction here is the father\u2019s own\ncomplicity and responsibility for his wife\u2019s death. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nStand Accused <\/em>points to the ways in which trauma travels and how\nit stays with those it touches. Thulani\u2019s childhood traumas have\nfollowed him throughout his life. Unable to find answers and to\ngrieve, his life mirrors that of his father. The play delicately\ncaptures the tensions between love, loss and tragedy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nStand Accused<\/em> can be viewed at St. Andrew\u2019s Hall on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June\n30th at 16:30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July\n1st at 21:00 \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July\n2nd at 10:00 \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The voice is that primary event that circulates to wrap us in its sonorities, silences and rhythms, and intonations. – Brandon LaBelle, Lexicon of the Mouth A young man is … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4813,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions\/4813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}