FringeNYC 2013: Ndebele Funeral
Come see South African story telling at its finest! This play explores the aspirations of three diverse characters whose lives intersect in a Soweto shantytown. Darkly funny and poignant, Ndebele Funeral features original music and gumboot dancing from the mines of Jo'burg.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Ed Malin · August 11, 2013
Brooklyn-based Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative has presented their work on several continents and now brings Ndebele Funeral to FringeNYC.
In the new South Africa, in Soweto, Daweti (Zoey Martinson), a woman of the Ndebele ethnic group, is living in a shack with a tin door. Soweto, long a squalid, segregated area, now has its rich and poor. When Daweti's well-dressed friend Thabo (Yusef Miller) pays a visit, it is clear that Daweti has had other opportunities but has fallen into poverty and sickness (with the implication that she is HIV-positive).
Thabo, a Christian with a positive outlook, wants to buy Daweti medication and help her fix up her place, or get her a new one. A white government official named Jan (Jonathan David Martin) has paid a visit earlier to see how Daweti is using her alloted building materials. Daweti, who is not inclined to buy into the idea of progress, has built a traditional coffin and acquired a case of beer. At first with words, then with violence against Jan, she refuses to move forward with building her house (the wood has been used for the coffin) or trying to recover her health.
She notes that post-colonial governments in Africa have tended to accomplish nothing save holding on to power. This action is interspersed with flashbacks of when Thabo and Daweti met in school, and how her thinking has changed over the years. Thabo, too, has clung to his belief in working hard and moving forward, but has recently been assaulted on a train and is now inclined to consider a very bizarre and dramatic request from Daweti.
This is a heartbreaking yet beautiful story. The colorful set, which barely suggests Daweti's shack, becomes a battleground. Director Awoye Timpo is to be commended for interjecting so many happy moments--such as a song from legendary performer Miriam Makeba and Ndebele folklore--into a story that, try as the characters might, can only descend into sorrow. This work from a racially diverse South African theater group strives to offer many perspectives on the troubles of urban living conditions. Co-Artistic Director Jonathan David Martin’s Jan at one point intimates that the job of going to each dwelling to check on the progress of construction is something that not even affirmative action-minded government officals would want to do. Yusef Miller's somewhat deluded optimism as Thabo is convincing throughout the piece, and as Daweti, playwright Zoey Martinson's affection for her friend must contend with her true feelings about her destiny. This is a frank, effecting production that, even in its shocking ending, makes me want to learn more.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Ndebele Funeral
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
The Five W's · zoey martinson (Writer)
- Who are your favorite playwrights?
Oh my there are so many, I don't know where to start! Okay, when these playwrights write a play I will drop everything and go see it: Sarah Ruhl Tarell Alvin McCraney David Lindsay-Abaire David Henry Hwang Lynn Nottage Shakespeare (not all of them, but the good ones:), Ibsen, Chekhov, - What's your favorite pastime when you’re not working on a play?
I love to direct theatre and web media content. I also love comedy! I watch a ton of improv and sketch. - Where does this play take place, and how did you choose that location?
The play takes place in Soweto, South Africa. I based it on a real life story and that is where it took place. I then spent time down there working on it so the play would feel authentic to South Africa. - When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
When I was 3 years old I saw this play with a ventriloquist dummie doll. After the show I walked around telling everyone that when I grew up I wanted to be a dummie. As, I got older I would write and stage little shows for my school and when I got to high school we would take field trips to see shows at the local theatre. I remember seeing Master Class and getting hooked to theatre. It was a much more visceral experience than watching a movie. I walked out of plays with a different perspective on my life. From that moment I knew that is what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be able to affect people in that way. - Why did you want to write this show?
The story of this woman's life stuck with me. One day I ended up writing what I thought her life might have been living in a shack outside of Soweto. The play was the result. I hope people are able to connect to the character's needs and wants. If people can see a bit of themselves in them, then I will be happy.
All About My Show · jonathan david martin (Other)
- Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
…features South African music by Spirits Indigenous and gumboot dancing from the mines of Johannesburg. - What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
“Ndebele Funeral” is about the poetry, the vibrant life, and the struggles of life in post-apartheid South Africa. Audiences will be charmed by the sounds and the rhythms of South Africa’s diverse culture, they’ll be touched by a story of love and loss, and they’ll find lots of parallels between the dreams of the characters in the play and their own lives. - What aspect of the show are you responsible for, and what exactly does that entail? Please be specific, e.g., if you’re the dramaturg, what are the things that the audience will experience that you’re responsible for?
I’m an actor in “Ndebele Funeral” as well as one half of Smoke Mirrors Collaborative (SMC), the theater company that is producing the play for FringeNYC. (The other half of SMC is the play’s playwright, actress, and all-around Superwoman, Zoey Martinson.) Zoey and I tag team almost all of the producing duties of bringing “Ndebele Funeral” to FringeNYC: fundraising on Kickstarter, marketing, getting the word out via social media, arranging press photos, hunting down most of the props, and even building part of the set on an east village sidewalk in 90 degree heat. - How did you first become involved/acquainted with this show?
I performed the role of Jan in 2009 when “Ndebele Funeral” was first workshopped as a one-act for NYU’s Grad Acting Freeplay Festival. - Is there a particular moment in this show that you really love or look forward to? Without giving away surprises, what happens in that moment and why does it jazz you?
There are several moments in the show that give me goosebumps every time we perform it. One of the exciting elements of “Ndebele Funeral” is how it straddles both realism and magical realism. At the top of the show, the sound of footsteps turns into a rhythm that becomes a South African style dance and song. The dance is powerful, the song transcendent, and when they end we are smoothly transported back to a hot, dusty morning in a tiny shack in Soweto.
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