Yael Farber’s latest play, Molóra, is about forgiveness and revenge — how we deal with wrongs done to us in the past.
Molóra — which means ‘ash’ in SeSotho – uses the many different associations of ash to distill human experience to its basic constituents.
“Ash is the single uniting factor that we all experience: it represents death and pain. It is the residue of something destructive. But it is light in the way it falls from the sky. It can also give life because it has many nutrients in it,” says Farber, 2003 winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Award for drama
Molóra is an adapted work based loosely on the epic Greek Oresteia trilogy, written by Aeschylus in 458 BC. The final play in this tragedy, The Eumenides, is unique in that it ends on a note of reconciliation and optimism. Despite the play’s ancient origins, Farber felt some of its themes relate to a modern context, particularly to that of South Africa.
“It is a miracle that there was no bloodbath during South Africa’s transformation. The fact that people did not act on the basic impulse of vengeance was astonishing when one compares the reaction after the 9/11 attacks,” she said.
“I have this vivid image after the 9/11 attacks of people covered in ash and blood. Ash is about coming down to a basic truth to which everything is reduced,” she explained.
“Looking back at my work over the years I can see an underlying theme of grappling with the present climate because of our potent history, which has a resonance and power in itself.
“We are quite advanced in the process of grappling with our history, but at times we can also be depressingly naïve,” she says of South Africa.
Farber explained she did not stick faithfully to the original text for specific reasons. In Molóra she uses the “bigger picture of one cursed family” as a symbol of victims and perpetrators living side by side.
In Molóra, brother and sister Orestes and Electra have a choice. They are able to defy their fate of vengeance, of killing the perpetrator. Through this they go against the instinct that “somebody has to pay”.
The play evolved around a process of workshops with a group of Xhosa women from Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape.
“In our diverse culture, you have to approach theatre with humility because there is no one truth,” she said. “You deprive yourself if you do not incorporate other voices.”
“The Xhosa group bring with them an enormous richness,” she said.
The role of the chorus in Greek tragedies never made much sense to Farber. She came up with a new interpretation of the chorus by using the Xhosa women. “They are a silenced group of people but they carry much wisdom with them,” she said.
Their presence is also powerful because of their voices. “Their unique split-tone singing brings an ancient and unearthly sound to the performance,” she said. – ECN-Cue