THEATRE REVIEW: The Red On The Rainbow

 

The Red On The Rainbow stage production written and directed by Monageng Vice Motshabi at the Market Theatre’s Mannie Manim theatre welcomes you with an incidental jazzy sound. The arrangement of the seating is Thrust Stage, where the seating is fashioned in such that the audience sit on three sides, with the fourth becoming more art of the stage. The set design culminates five plinths flanked by empty 9 liters empty buckets red in color, dimly lit.

Cast members on stage. Picture by Ihsaan Haffegee.

Hlomohang Mothetho’s lighting creates a sense of urgency to listen to the story whilst their costumes by Natalie Paneng takes you back in time - to an ancient African men of letters, the griots of Timbuktu in Mali centuries ago. Red on The Rainbow is a powerful piece that reflects on how the absence of political will and unpatriotic civil servanthood can taint citizen’s faith in government and nudges the lives of community members into danger, the very people who should be protected by the officials. The citizens end up with no choice but riot against the injustice they experience every day. As an audience, your emotional pitch is raised early on by the actors and is flattened by greater nuance or psychological subtext exuded by performers and their enthralling script. The play is heavy on layered expositions throughout and its political messages become more pronounced and stays with you throughout the session and long after you left theatre. 

The setting of the story is at Van Vuuren Mealie farm and is punctuated by the death  of a young man called Tumelo Mokgosi played Thapelo Mohapi, from the hands of little Jan Van Vuuren which has caused a stir in the community of Makweteng in North West province. Volley Nchabeleng is playing mbira instrument and vocals whereas Sydney Mavundla plays the trumpet and their soundscapes interlude the scenes. Five figures; two women and three men ascend stage the stage in praise poetry and oral storytelling tradition. You are taken on a journey and experiences of farm workers being shot, use of a heavy mockery of Afrikaans language assures you that you’re in a farm. This stage piece is driven by the sterling talent of Barileng Thato Malebye, Dambuza Nqumashe, Thapelo Mohapi, Tshireletso Nkoane and Xolile Gama supported by award winning musicians Sydney Mavundla and Volley Nchabeleng.

 

Monageng in his latest offering, unlike his previous piece Ankobia few years ago, explored multilayered themes with far much polished approach on racial segregation, economic inequality, social security and lack of it thereof, political will and the absence of it, Christianity and African spirituality in the new South Africa now called ‘the rainbow nation’. The originality of theme and treatment underpinned by contact with life necessary to have had actual emotional experience, gives the script remarkable resonance. The common thread in the two plays is the interrogation of brutality of colonialism and violence in the post democratic South Africa. The title itself suggests a failed dream. As the play unfolds it attests to a failed state in making this country livable for everyone. First time I saw the poster title, I suspected it meant ‘blood on the rainbow’. Of course few minutes in, my suspicion is proven right due to a scene when little (Tumelo Mokgosi) played by Thapelo Mohapi, got killed by a young boer by the name Jan in three bullets. It is alleged that the little boer’s firing of bullets at two unarmed black boys was part of his extra mural activity. 

 

Dora played by Tshireletso Nkoane and Petrus played by Dambuza Nqumashe. Picture By Ihsaan Haffegee

This murder of one brings to a sharp focus a divide and unity of community with church, police station and community activists getting involved. There is a clash of religion visible in the Tumelo’s home. A mother (Dora) played by Tshireletso Nkoane  believes in the Supreme Being and African spirituality against the father (Petrus) played Dambuza Nqumashe who gave his life to a man called Jesus Christ. Dora feels like the Jesus Christ the her husband love so much failed to protect their from the rain of bullets whereas Petrus believes it was the will of God their son was killed. 

Distrust bubbles between the couple as they discuss the funeral and burial arrangements of their son Tumelo (Thapelo Mohapi). Dora’s emotional fragility and the frustrations are angled at Petrus give the scenes their drama and draws out her character’s anguish with animated realism. In the house is a defeated woman at the presence of his helpless husband whose ability to think is absorbed by the church that doesn’t help them. In their shack, Dora is counting the cents they have to bury their son. Petrus is looking at the picture of Winnie and Nelson Mandela. After some time, Dora confessed that they only have R900. Petrus is saying that the funeral policy cannot pay them out because he couldn’t pay the monthly insurance in the past two months. The conversation is tense. 

  

The Red on the Rainbow starring Barileng Malebye, Thapelo Mohapi Motsikoe, Tshireletso Nkoane and Xolile Gama. Pic by Ihsaan Haffegee

The audience is taken to the Makweteng police station where Jabie and Afrika went to report the murder. Here we notice malfunctioning of our public sector at the expense of tax payers money. The bereaved young men are mocked by men in blue uniforms and not taken serious. The statement they give to the police station is treated like someone with leprosy. Snide remarks are thrown about from the mouths of police officials.

The drama at the police station seems never to end because Afrika (accused of being unauthorized politician) and Jabie (who is alleged to be a nyaope addict) are being intimidated by the police officials. The captain of the station sides with the Van Vuurens, claiming that the Van Vuurens are the high ranking and upstanding members of the Makweteng. The officials are not only siding with the whites but they were given a bribe to not take the murder case serious. One the other hand the vocal Afrika played by Xolile Gama is waging war against the Van Vuurens. Outside the yard of the Van Vuurens, Piet and Jan are idling inside the house. Dora gotten her courage to carry her fatigued body to the farm where her son’s breath gasp on the last time. Dora played by Tshireletso epitomizes the black power of matriarchy. She wants to talk to the little Jan and nothing could stop her to talk her. 

By the end, it is hard to tell who dominates whom because every cast member did his or her best to help drive the untold stories facing farm communities where black people are at receiving end of inequality and abuse. The message, delivered with such complex mastery, is one of community activism. It is Monageng’s extraordinary achievement that their story feels just as relevant, and resonant, for our times. Monageng’s work is a sincerest work of art attempting to dignify black man’s humanity. The play reaches a terrific climax but the journey is truly laborious. This is a seminal work, a classic in the making and a set work for schools. 

The Red On Rainbow is on at the Market Theatre till the 01 May 2022.