ingcwaba lendoda lise cankwe ndlela (the grave of the man is next to the road)

Produced by

Magnet Theatre

Directed by

Mandla Mbothwe

Featuring

Faniswa Yisa

When

Daily, Mon 23rd to Fri 27th at 10h30

Duration

60 mins

Location

The Assembly

Tickets

R30

A stirring, vibrant multi-media work produced by one of the country’s top performance companies.

On the long road of life we are all searching for somewhere to belong. We will still be searching when we die. Home – the concept and the location – is central in African cultures. It is associated with the fall of the umbilical cord, the grave, history, clans, and ancestors. Without a home you are not fixed, you are not protected, you are just like the wind.

Drawing inspiration from African traditions and urban rituals, ‘ingcwaba lendoda’ explores the physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual dislocation of young black South Africans whose origins lie a long way down the N2 in the Eastern Cape.

Magnet Theatre

Magnet Theatre has been operating in and out of South Africa for 20 years. Foregrounding the language of the body, they create innovative and sophisticated theatre that engages with conditions in South Africa.

Mandla Mbothwe

Associate Director for the Magnet Theatre Educational Trust, Mandla is currently working for the University of Cape Town as a drama lecturer and researcher. He has directed and created work for many community-based organisations, and last year directed ‘Isivuno sama phupha’ (Harvest of Dreams) for ITC.

Faniswa Yisa

Since graduating from UCT with a diploma in Speech and Drama in 2000, Faniswa has worked as a freelance actress with Janice Honeyman, Brett Bailey, Lara Bye, James Ngcoba and others. She has performed in CARGO and EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY I AM WALKING with Magnet Theatre.

The Assembly

The Assembly night club in Harrington Street has its feet planted firmly in Cape history. Long ago it was a granary. At the end of the 19th Century the area was home to many Jews from Eastern Europe, one of many diverse ethnic and religious groups who sank their first South African roots into District Six. Poor people from every conceivable place and race, runaway soldiers, sailors who had jumped ship, practitioners of every religion under the sun (or none at all) craftsmen practising many trades and crooks of all descriptions – the place was home to them all, and many formed little communities which sometimes stayed in place for many years. “Kanaladorp”, they called it, the place where you helped your neighbour, even if you had almost nothing. Some incomers later moved on, but none ever forgot their time in Kanaladorp … noisy, dangerous, run-down and often insanitary, but also a place of love and laughter.