I remember when art centres thrived in townships. You would come back from school, get chores done, do your homework and, as a reward, you would run to the nearest art centre and express yourself by doing what naturally comes to you.
The Sibikwa Art Centre is exactly that for around 200 young people in and around Benoni, a town on the East Rand.
Established in 1988 by renowned playwrights, directors, art educators and stalwarts, Small Ndaba and Phyllis Klotz, Sibikwa Art Centre is a place of refuge and, most importantly, a place where dreams are given a chance.
“For us, it is about their dreams, the realisation of dreams, and we are very fortunate to be able to realise dreams,” says Klotz.
Recently, some of these young people got the opportunity to perform 1789, a theatre piece by French stage director Ariane Mnouchkine.
About 90% of the 17 Sibikwa inclusive creative arts programme learners that are part of the play have neurological disabilities and struggle with reading and writing. With the support of experienced actors such as Joel Zuma who has played in King Kong, Shaka Zulu, Othello and Hamlet, they managed to execute a world-class performance.
Sibikwa Art Centre has partnered with the French Institution of South Africa (IFAS) and Théâtre du Soleil to bring to life the story of the French Revolution, six years later.
“This is not a South African adaptation of a French play. We’ve chosen to allow the themes of the piece to speak for themselves while staying true to the original work of commentary and satire developed by Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil all those years ago. We have no doubt that the audience will feel the echoes of resonance ripple in other revolutions,” says Klotz.
There were some French people in the audience who were moved by the performance. There were moments when they laughed and there were moments where they would fall into a deep sadness.
“Probably all of us in that room were not part of the revolution, but this is our history and we do not take for granted the sacrifices made during the revolution. We are now able to be in South Africa, to watch how it all unfolded, these are the fruits of the revolution and we are so proud,” an audience member tells the Mail & Guardian.
Marie Fricout, cultural officer at IFAS says that the play was quite universal.
“It happened so long ago that to some degree it has become a national myth. So it is great to understand it in more detail and also to understand the anger and fire those who lived in that time had,” says Fricout.
She says history is taught in a way for people to know about what happened in a time before them. It is good that we are reminded about the suffering, anger and pain those who lived before us felt.
A deeply tragic scene was when fathers had to kill their children due to famine and extreme conditions. That was such a moving scene that you could see the entire energy of the space shift to a much more sombre mood. The stage was in a theatre-in-the-round format, with the audience standing in and around the set, making them part of the play.
The cast interacts with the audience, calling us closer, making eye contact and asking us to chant.
Dominique Jambert of Théâtre du Soleil tells the M&G that putting on the show was challenging as they were in different countries most of the time, however when she got to South Africa to take on the role of staging support together with Omid Mahmood Shah, she found that the cast and crew clicked.
“We really worked well together, we understood each other and understood the direction we had to go, and the result is this beautiful play, 1789,” she says.
Jambert says she wanted the actors to take the story and make it their own so it can resonate and make sense to them, and from an audience point of view it was successful. There were moments where actors spoke in Zulu and Xhosa, not changing the script or the story but still boldly telling a story that matters in our language.
You could pick up South African nuances such as facial expressions and body movements when delivering a point.
“I cannot tell you how much this play means to me and my people. I am grateful for how the cast and crew treated it, and I stand here forever grateful for the revolution,” another audience member says.
1789 is running until 23 July at Sibikwa Art Centre.