THEATRE: Bafana Khumalo
YOU Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? could be the beginning of a new trend in black theatre — or it could be a one-off. One hopes it is the former, signifying a new phase in post-apartheid theatre where playwrights move away from the hackneyed formulae of the past, in which a half- dressed man would walk on stage and preach a guilt trip to the audience.
This Zakes Mda-penned nightmarish fantasy, set in a fictional African country, is a roll-in-the-aisles look at a society in which the entire cabinet has been incarcerated in a dungeon. From here they constantly hand out decrees designed to whip the subjects into order.
Despite the play being really funny at places, one should never be lulled into thinking it is an “Oh shucks it’s Schuster” presentation. It’s not. This is a serious look at, among other things, how bad society’s rulers can become.
The most serious and disturbing aspect is the suspicion that Mda is commenting on our own society, albeit without ever hitting one over the head as did the 1980s struggle plays. At one point the play is a despairing look at where our little African country might be headed, and at another a sigh of relief that at least we are not in such bad shape.
This is where the genius of the play lies: it is not a didactic lecture on the dangers of new incumbents coming into power and taking on the habits of their former oppressors. It is a subtly crafted presentation in which one is thrust into constant combat with the playwright in trying to gain a better understanding of the material.
This was also a problem for me in places, when I struggled to understand the meaning of some of the images, wishing the play had been written in a more accessible manner.
The seven-strong cast carries the play ably, with each member working in a tightly directed dance. A face to watch is that of Desmond Dube. Less experienced than the other cast members, his energy and enthusiasm carry him along and he shines among the veteran actors. Dube, who has done the rounds in community theatre, plays a young man who is thrown into the dungeon with the cabinet. He is immediately suspected of being a plant but later goes on to redeem himself.
He shows that, among this motley crew of damaged individuals — who, incidentally, think of themselves as paragons of social virtue — he is the sanest of all. Dube is sure to shine even brighter in the future.
You Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? runs at the Windybrow in Hillbrow until March 4