by Beverley Brommert

Youth Day, 2019 brings the announcement by Cape Town Opera of its latest commission/production: Soweto Uprising – The Aftermath, scheduled for staging in October this year. Not for the first time, this company is demonstrating its commitment to promoting love of music and opera among the youth, and this venture has the added merit of recording a painful past with which today’s younger generation may be increasingly unfamiliar.
The production represents a collaboration between the Western Cape’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (which is contributing some necessary funding) and a creative team consisting of script-writer and director Mhlanguli George and composer Sipumzo Lucwaba, co-ordinated by CTO’s Masixole Makwetu, responsible for the company’s Youth Development and Education programmes.
When completed, the new work will be performed by students from Chris Hani Secondary School and Lathi-Tha School of Skills, both based in Khayelitsha.
On the motivation for Soweto Uprising…, Makwetu explained that this musical is intended to make today’s youth aware that June 16th is not “just a day off school”; its commemoration of a significant event in South African history, and especially the sacrifices incidental thereto, should be brought to the attention of learners in 2019. He insisted that “both sides of the story need to be heard for us to understand where we’ve come from since 1976. What have we learnt? How have things changed, and how can we inspire youth today?” The work deals specifically with the aftermath as opposed to the uprising per se, exploring what happened to those involved on opposing sides in the 1970s.
Although far too young to claim any personal participation in that march, Makwetu has a deep interest in it through his activist grandfather, who was a political prisoner on Robben Island at the time.
Scriptwriter and director Mhlanguli George, noted for his fresh and unique take on various productions, said “I was very happy when Masixole asked me to direct this musical, then on reflection I realised that it’s not like previous shows as some of those involved are still alive – unlike works dating from a long-gone past. That enabled me to do first-hand research, such as talking to Seth Mazibuko (a school prefect who headed the march). I heard the story from my parents… Are the kids up to the challenge? Totally. I’ve worked with learners at both these schools before, on an adaptation of Tsotsi, and they’re equally committed and full of talent. I’m looking forward to working with them again.”
Composer Sipumzo Lucwaba admitted that inspiration for the score of Soweto Uprising… is a complex affair, due to the broad range of emotions evoked. “You can’t just rush in and start composing for a subject like this; there’s hope, tragedy, loss, ups and downs, highs and lows. As for genre, there are elements of choral music as well as high school musical. With my Eastern Cape roots, I’m familiar with that powerfully emotive singing heard at, for example, sports matches to rouse a crowd the way struggle songs do, and that is also included.” He was adamant though that traditional struggle songs are not incorporated into his score: “Do we want people moved by ‘old’ music? Struggle songs are very specific, and I need to create new songs of similar power instead of relying on history.”
Western Cape Government DCAS Minister Anroux Marais had the last word: “We at Cultural Affairs and Sport support every programme and production that promotes youth development and education, province-wide. Young people – past, present and future – are extremely important. To members of the creative team with this sensitive story to tell, I say ‘Do what you do’. The subject is still relevant today, and restores meaning to the past. We particularly support Cape Town Opera, which has given opportunities to young upcoming artists from all walks of life, many of them previously disadvantaged; they can use opera to tell their story. Financial support and moral support are symbiotic, but the former is not easy as national government is not generous when it comes to cultural affairs. However, we do our best.”
CLICK HERE and Meet the team, Script Writer + Director, Mhlanguli George and Composer, Sipumzo Trueman Lucwaba, be introduced to this exciting new Youth Day project.
Video by Dan Rutland Manners and photograph by Niel Roux

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Insightful, vibrant and intense, Tsotsi the Musical is a compassionate social commentary that interweaves the lives of several characters living in a township, and explores how their choices and circumstances led them to where they are. If you’ve read the book by Athol Fugard and watched the Academy-award winning film, you will be surprised by the expansion of characters. The story focuses on Tsotsi, the soulless killer with a tragic past, who unexpectedly finds his humanity when he accidentally kidnaps a baby; Miriam, a god-fearing Zimbabwean woman who is confronted by an ethical crisis when she feels compassion for a villain; Boston an intelligent and honourable man who serves as an antithesis to Tsotsi’s lack of decency, and a put-upon shop owner from Bangladesh whose shop is branded with the sign ”Go Home”.

Shifting from the present to the past, flashbacks provide insight into the titular character. The early scenes of young David begin the story of how a childhood burdened with loss, grief, poverty, and violence moulded a boy, who could have been a man, into a monster. Tsotsi and his gang terrorise the community by robbing, invading homes and killing. A particularly heinous scene is the murder of a man in a train, the thugs callously jumping over his dead body to make their escape. The man became a target after making the fatal mistake of “smiling” in Joburg.

Gripped, and bracing myself for more darkness and suspense, I was upended by the most ebullient musical experience that I’ve had in years.

The theatre quaked with high-spirited songs of praise and protest, requiems of longing, moving lullabies and exhilarating group ensembles. The brilliance of composer Zwai Bala, the emotional and profound lyrics of Mkhululi Mabija, the electrifying dance moves choreographed by Thandazile Radebe, spurred the audience into incessant bursts of applause and a chorus of whistles and cheers. The romantic contemporary dance sequence performed in dim lighting was nothing short of hypnotic, and I hummed the yearnful miner’s lament, Thandiwe, as I drove home.

Mxolisi “Zuluboy” Majozi owns the role of Tsotsi, visibly comfortable and literally moving fluidly within the body of a thug. Other standout performances include the utter domination of the remarkable voices of Bianca Le Grange as Soekie, a fearless and hilarious shebeen queen with a heart of gold, and Thembisile Ntaka as Adedola, a glamorous Nigerian queenpin.

As entertaining and often comical as the production is, Tsotsi the Musical frequently swings the pendulum from humour to heartbreak.  A woman who begs for assistance from the police officer to help find her missing child is dismissively met with the suggestion that she should pray. Angry protesters confront corrupt politicians and a disabled man laments the loss of his legs after an accident in the mines. A hostile father scolds his emotionally battered son for not being a real man when the child begs to keep his dead mother’s suitcase.  Poverty and violence cling to Tsotsi even in moments of love, as he removes the baby’s nappy with the knife he uses to kill.

Tsotsi the Musical spotlights several societal ills in a way that is entertaining, reflective, and relevant; this is a story for our time

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