At play with the kings of theatre

John Kani is finally staging ‘The Dying Screams of the Moon’, the play Zakes Mda forgot about, writes Shanthini Naidoo

Zakes Mda and John Kani had no trouble getting in touch with their feminine sides, in the first-ever stage collaboration by the two stalwarts. Mda says: "At a lecture I gave recently, a Somali woman raised her hand and said, 'Please forgive me, I don't want to offend, but I just want to say you write like a woman.'" He chuckles. "I was greatly honoured. In fact, I felt she gave me an award."

For the first time in a 30-year friendship and professional relationship, the legendary actor has directed a play written by the legendary author, The Dying Screams of the Moon.

The story is about two female military combatants, one white (Tinarie van Wyk-Loots), the other black (Masasa Mbangeni). Having served in the former South African Defence Force and Mkhonto weSizwe respectively, the women return to what was once their hometown in the Free State.

story_article_left1

Mbangeni's character returns from exile to find that land owned by her forefathers is now the property of the white soldier's father. They both go to a church, looking for solace, where they find each other.

Kani, who is working with an all-female stage crew for the first time, says the play is as much about relationships as it is about politics.

"They talk, these two women. They talk about how their choices have impacted on their lives. Sexual harassment, being in higher ranks or careers than their partners. They remember their parents and families. And the land issue. These are issues of today," says Kani.

There is irony here, because Mda wrote the play 20 years ago and could not recall it when Kani approached him about it recently.

"I didn't know what he was talking about. I had forgotten this play," says Mda. "At the time, around 1994, [Market Theatre co-founder] Mannie Manim said the play was going to interfere with the euphoria the country was feeling. I was a party pooper. It would burst the bubble because it dealt with the psychology of this new freedom."

The play ran once with an amateur ensemble directed by the late Siphiwe Khumalo, but did not resurface until now.

In part because Mda, who lives in Ohio, did not have the script.

block_quotes_start To say I was impressed is an understatement. I was moved. When a director and actors take a play, it is theirs, not mine anymore. It comes to life block_quotes_end

After an unsuccessful search through the Market Theatre archives, a hard copy was resurrected from the Grahamstown Museum. "We had to scan and send each page to my brother, Zakes, whose memory was awakened," says Kani.

But Mda says it was probably not accidental that the play had to wait. "The inspiration at the time and feelings that were exuded, were coming back. This issue of land is close to my heart because it touches me personally. My grandfather's village in Herschel in the Eastern Cape was taken away, but I was able to get back part of the land from which we were moved. Many people didn't get back land that they lost."

Kani believes the play, had it been staged when Mda first wrote it, would have helped South Africa deal with issues that have in the interim festered and created deeper chasms.

story_article_right2

"There was no time for healing the psyche after 1994," he says, and cites a line from the play in which the white woman says to the black woman: "Let's wipe the slate clean." The reply is, "Before you do that, can I see what is written on the slate?"

The story is told through women, Kani says, because after returning from exile, "the men seemed to slot back into position faster".

"Some women were higher ranking than their partners. So they would say, 'Let's get married,' so he can be on top again. These are the things the two discuss."

Mda, who watched rehearsals before returning to the University of Ohio where he is a professor of English, says: "To say I was impressed is an understatement. I was moved. When a director and actors take a play, it is theirs, not mine anymore. It comes to life."

Kani says: "People are talking about these two icons working together, but what is interesting is the work. We are excited by it and it surprised both of us. We honour the writer and the text, which is an African idiom. At the centre of the play is the truth."

The play forms part of the theatre's 40th anniversary celebrations.

The Dying Screams of the Moon is on at The Market Theatre until August 21. Tickets R65-R195