{"id":564,"date":"2015-07-07T11:31:50","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T09:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=564"},"modified":"2015-07-07T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-07T09:31:50","slug":"daring-bold-venturous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=564","title":{"rendered":"Daring. Bold. Venturous."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"double-bill-synapses1027\"<\/a>Double Bill: Synapses & Broken Chant<\/em> is an intriguing production and deserves more than the two in the crowd we were.<\/p>\n

Part One: Synapses.
\nRaezeen Wentworth is rather funny, she has good comic timing and an interesting onstage persona. My fellow audience member chuckled throughout at her antics. She uses a projector and a cardboard box to create interesting imagery. She plays games: pass the ball, hopscotch, singing to her prince\u2026 yes she repeats \u201cthere\u2019s no time to play\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s meta-theatre. It\u2019s postmodern, contemporary, experimental physical theatre. And it\u2019s an observant look at hysteria, a \u201cphysical response to trauma\u201d, we hear. While she plays her hopscotch about \u201ccountries\u201d, she names Somalia and Nigeria. She comments and associates Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram respectively. Is the warring and unspeakable violence happening on the continent the cause of her hysteria? Are her games an escape from this?<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t time to play for those whose childhoods have been taken away from them. We should all be hysterical about this.<\/p>\n

Part Two: Broken Chant.
\nSonia Radebe performs a contemplative work about African ceremonies and as the title suggests, a breaking down of them, of dance, of family. She begins by unpacking and ritualistically arranging a spiral of enamel cups on the stage. She hums softly. A didgeridoo track plays. Her hum grows to resounding song.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne foot. Two foot\u201d she repeats. Her movement through the spiral of cups invokes imagery of negotiating domestic spaces, of treading carefully so as not to upset the space. But as her careful tread develops into a stomping toyi-toyi, so does \u201cone foot, two foot\u201d become \u201cffff, ffff, ffff\u201d \u2013 a transformation.<\/p>\n

A mesmerising and moving dance unfolds. In it she seeks balance, she struggles with emotional burdens, she calls relentlessly to people who are not there \u201cuphi Dudu? uphi Sephuma?\u201d The stirring climax leaves us shaken from Radebe\u2019s vulnerable and tumultuous solo.<\/p>\n

Radebe is a phenomenal mover and I don\u2019t throw the word out lightly. Each step, each twitch, each shudder, reach, pause, extension \u2013 is imbued with the utmost quality and intention. The house should be full for this alone.<\/p>\n

– Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director:\u00a0Khayelihle Dominique Gumede
\nChoreographers:\u00a0Nhlanhla Mahlangu & Sonia Radebe
\nMusic composed by:\u00a0Nhlanhla Mahlangu<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for production info. Double Bill: Synapses & Broken Chant is on tomorrow 8 July @ 12pm @ PJ\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Double Bill: Synapses & Broken Chant is an intriguing production and deserves more than the two in the crowd we were. Part One: Synapses. Raezeen Wentworth is rather funny, she … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[222,419,577,589,670,768],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}