BIRTHDAY staged at Olive Tree Theatre, Alexandra Township – Johannesburg

The BIRTHDAY is a travelogue stage piece which mesmerized audience from around Johannesburg after its successful runs at Jeppe College in the city of Polokwane, a week earlier. BIRTHDAY is written and directed by Roelf Matlala, a multitalented theatre practitioner with a heart of gold when it comes to theatre and arts development. This stage piece, managed by Ramadumetja Rasebotsa, boasts a seasoned and raw aptitude of Limpopo based talents such as radio veteran drama actor, Chukudu Manaka,  Seitebaleng Dire, Keitumetse Tlokwana, Charles Magagane, Charity Sehlapelo, Enny Modiba, Mapuleng Maake and Robert Mathipa.

Leo, Shokie and their mother Maggie. Image Courtesy of Roel Matlala.

In Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s discretion, “A democratic participation of people in the shaping of their own lives or in discussing their own languages that allow for comprehension is seen as being dangerous to the good government of a country and its institutions. African languages addressing themselves to the lives of the people become the enemy of a neo-colonial state.” It is among the rarest artists or playwrights, so much more interesting , to many, than the very greatest that Roelf Matlala belongs and he can only be properly understood, loved or even measured by those whom it is ‘the delicacies of fine literature’ that chiefly appeal.

For strangeness and subtlety of temperament, for rarity and delicacy of form, for something incredibly attractive to those who feel Matlala’s attraction, he is as unique in our age as Wale Soyinka in the age of Chinua Achebe.  “You were not sent here to love me but for psychological evaluation,” punctuates Dr. Moagi, played by Robert Mathipa as we are thoroughly introduced to the BIRTHDAY.  Gradually we are journeyed into the dynamics of the family struggles, marital affairs, rivalry of the sisters, structural and psychological embodiment of the family unit, court cases and counselling, therapy and gambling, unity and incongruence, happiness and sadness.  The bond between a father and her daughters is brought into perspective as the problem supervenes.

Dr. Moagi and Shokie. Image Courtesy of Roelf Matlala.

The family problem surfaced upon the concept of a birthday gift. “It all started with a family move to surprise my mother,” remembers Shokie, played by Seitebaleng Dire, in the milieu of a consultation with her personal psychologist. Language friction emerges when a song had to be remembered thereby carrying with it the clash of who is smarter than the other, among the siblings as the narration. This date 21^st March drives the play to the end of it, simply as a day of curse instead of a blessing. It is the birthday of a mother and a wife, Maggie – played by Keitumetse Tlokwana. Maggie is presented with a maid as a birthday gift. Her husband, Sol – played by Charles Magagane and the children gifted her with – played by Mapuleng Maake. “Since there is no factory that produces the mastermind of cleaning, moving factor and looking after the household, we collectively decided to present you this gift,” said Sol in the excitement glare of their children.

Shoki is a very energetic aficionado who is forever happy and has attitude when it suits her mood. She is with the maid in the house, perhaps because she came back early from school that day, with the house helper Rosa. As inquisitive as ever, she breaks the silence and asks Rosa about relationships “Rosa, you never say anything about your boyfriend. Who is he?” Rosa seems shy at first and she finally opens up: “he stays somewhere in the midst of this hood.”

Rosa and Solomon. Image Courtesy of Roelf Matlala.

Rosa continued to be a good servant in their eyes and did her misgivings in the dark, when they least at her sight. There was a sin brewing up in the house. One day, when Rosa and Sol thought it were just two of them in the house, they started kissing and touching disorderly, something which happened regularly, and became an uncovered sin by Leo, Sol’s daughter. She had uncovered Rosa and Sol’s affair. This incident issued a massive friction between father and daughter, closest members of the family. As a ritual, they play chess game before bed every night. From this uncovered sin, theirs became a loud silence, however they continued to play, no words are exchanged but only chess moves, the muteness breathes word ‘check’ as a change from cold silence.

Leo is not strong enough to keep secret of her Dad’s affair with the maid, she confided in Shoki after a countless pestering and convince. Matlala narrates the domestic dynamics with poignancy and touches of humour. We see their uncle, brought into view constantly to spice up the play with his comical excursions here and gambling habits there. The comical element is visible where handsomeness is likened to fish and chips. “Leo my favourite niece, tell Rosa that I am single and available on the shelves” once said Malome played by Chukudu Manaka , when introduced to the maid.

 The BIRTHDAY concept and reasoning gain visibility and momentum when the daughters pick a fight with the maid in front of their mother. Confessions and secrets are put nakedly on the line with the girls jumping aggressively onto Rosa, kicking and tossing her around. Their dad unceremoniously walks in becoming a haven to Rosa who enjoyed handful claps and kicks already. She ran to Sol proudly confessing that “I am pregnant and they want to kill and our son, Sol.” This confession brought Maggie to tears. It appears that Sol’s affair with Rosa was deliberate, he justifies it by saying he did sleep with their maid because he wanted to have a boy child so that his inheritance is safeguarded.

Maggie, Mpho and their uncle. Image Courtesy of Roelf Matlala.

The justification no matter how sexist it may appear, in many African communities, the wish of many men is to have a son and it is believe that it’s a way of keeping the clan stronger and mightier. As the play draws to the end, Sol has moved out of the house as Maggie has won the custody of the house and the children. The last walk he made in his own house very cold and silent. He walked into his former bedroom to collect his few clothing items and squashed them into his bag. He killed his newly born daughter in a cold blood as a result of being lied to by Rosa when she made him believe that the child she was pregnant with was a boy. He ended up in prison for his deeds.

The BIRTHDAY stage piece ran for five days in September at the Olive Tree Theatre in Alexander Township, a community based theatre run by veteran theatre practitioner Ntshieng Mokgoro. The production was made possible by funding from National Arts Council of South Africa.

Khehla Chepape Makgato is a Johannesburg-based independent artist and arts writer, regularly contributing articles to ART AFRICA and The Journalist. He works at Assemblage Studios and is the founder of Samanthole Creative Projects & Workshop, a community-based art organisation focusing on arts and literacy youth programmes. Chepape is the ImpACT Award WINNER for Visual Arts 2016 by Arts and Culture Trust.