From usher to director

Monageng Motshabi tells Robyn Sassen of his long wait to take charge of a Market Theatre production

Seven years ago, Monageng "Vice" Motshabi, 28, was an aspirant art entrepreneur and a committed Rastafarian. Today, he's directing Sizwe Banzi is Dead, which opened at the Market Theatre this weekend.

"I've waited years for my turn," he said, his dreadlocks considerably shorter than in 2004. "Sometimes I didn't think it would come at all.

"Getting the opportunity to direct here was half my choice and half a gift. Windybrow Theatre was doing a heritage project last year. They ran short of a director, the project spilled over into this year, and I happened to be at the right place at the right time."

Motshabi, a graduate of FUBA and the Market Laboratory, has grown from usher to director.

"As director, you are the guy who takes the fall. It's bloody hard. But working with these guys (the cast) makes it worthwhile. They're both ego-less in their work."

Mandated with casting, he went for the best he could. Omphile Molusi - the first winner of the Brett Goldin Bursary in 2007, which took him to the Royal Shakespeare Company, - was his first choice. "He's my friend and brother," he said. "And Bra Arthur Molepo, a veteran in the field, has lived through what this play is about."

Sizwe Banzi, written by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona in 1972, focuses on the senselessness of pass laws.

Audiences started noticing Motshabi when he won the Naledi Award for community theatre in 2006.

"'Community' theatre carries a stigma and can be unbelievably inferior. But context is important. Community theatre is for audiences who see entertainment at face value. And when they learn it's not about jumping around and sweating, but is text-driven, they get bored. But it's also a dated principle. These days, 'community' has the wherewithal and curiosity to come to the Market, and they do.

"The relevance of this play" - last performed at the Market in 2006 - "is not a new question. We can look at identity and consider xenophobia. In apartheid's wake, our society has perpetrated similar sins against humanity.

"But Sizwe is historical. Maybe its relevance should remain so. It doesn't carry the same spirit to ignite the community as it did in the 1970s. It seems, however, that we don't really know what we want to make theatre about in this generation. So many illusions cloud the atmosphere.

"Working with this text, considered defining for South African theatre, is interesting. While people have shouted, 'You've got balls!' when they heard I'm doing this, Fugard isn't God. The material isn't flawless, but the process has been beautiful.

"There is always something new in Athol's work. There's nothing like a beautifully layered text. It makes the task of interpreting it that much more challenging, and that allows you to fly."