Fatherhood
At the Market Theatre for the opening of “Fatherhood”, a play by the Alex Theatre Company that delves into absent fathers. The play explores issues of shame, pain, longing and manhood. Who are you when you don’t have anything to validate you. No pictures, no memories. You don’t exist. No knowledge of your history, heritage and culture. You don’t know your clan names, you don’t belong, you don’t know who you are.
The show starts off with a saxophone playing in the background. It is melancholic and reinforces the themes of longing and identity. It is reflective and sombre, it serves as the music for this poignant play. Three performers are faced at the wall, backs to the audience. As they turn, the show commences. They tell stories about their fathers and how shoes, ties, hats and jackets tie in with their fathers identities. You can tell a lot about a man by his shoes. They are reflective, they are frustrated, tales laced in pain, shame and identify. One father just left one day, while another arrested for rape, while a third hanged himself. The performers regress to a childlike state, playing cars and gun-gun with empty paint containers. This reflects their innocence and faultless disposition, they are still kids, pure, looking at life without understanding. Children are the perfect catalysts to depict the pain and shame, they pass the hot potato and use each other as scapegoats. The prevailing message is we are not our fathers nor their shame, we are what we choose to become.
The set is minimal, red tie, worn out jacket, phedora hat and a shoe hanging, held up by a wooden rectangular prism. On the floor is shoes and a tie. The actors are expressive, animated and tell the story with a lot of feeling. They were wonderful in their childlike states.
Actors
Mike Dzova
Simphiwe Jako
Tshepang Ramasehla
Gabaganye Mkungo
Music director and composer Sanele Mzimela
Congratulations Archie Matsetela and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.
antakalipa 