Magic and realism intertwine in Nyanga - review

Deep in the Eastern Cape lies customs and traditions that are kept discreet. It is here that there's talk about the old lady who lives alone next door. It is here that communities gather round and watch another grandmother being burned alive because she is seen as a threat.

Fear and ostracism thrive in these communities. Witches are no longer believed to be merely mystical creatures: witch hunts have become a reality.

Nyanga is a play by Thembela Madliki set in the fictional village of KwaNyanga in the Eastern Cape, inspired by Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The play explores universal themes such as deception, manipulation and seduction in a South African context.

Nyanga is performed in English, isiXhosa, seSotho and seTswana.

“The story is something that many can relate to. It takes from the Salem Witch Trials and deals with rumours of witchcraft. It follows the lives of simple people that the audience can identify and empathise with. I wanted to leave the audience with a moral dilemma: who do you side with?” Madliki says.

Madliki, a Rhodes University Masters student in Drama, originally produced Nyanga as part of her final Honours exam, but later decided to extend the piece for the National Arts Festival. Madliki says she was very excited when she found out that she had been chosen to represent the University’s Drama Department.

She describes her play as “an atmosphere of magical realism in a rural South African landscape”. The play has come at an interesting time. Last week, the SABC confirmed that the South African government had sent a senior delegation to eNgcobo in the Eastern Cape to deal with the increase of elderly people being killed because of accusations of witchcraft.

The Human Rights Commission argued that witchcraft was a myth and that the killings infringed on human rights.

Masixole Heshu, who plays the character of Joseph Putuma says, “as a Xhosa person I believe that witchcraft is something that does happen, especially in deep cultural spaces such as these. Witchcraft is used for jealousy, and this play is based on how communities can believe something based on labelling. Sometimes innocent old women are attacked. These are things we need to talk about.”

This article first appeared on Cue Media.