We launched the first session of LANGUAGING last night at the School of Arts, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Running to December, this project will devise a multilingual and autobiographical performance art film to be submitted to hybrid online/onsite theatre and performance festivals in London, Melbourne and Dublin for 2022.
The project is made up of consciousness-raising elements which galvanise a discourse around language rights, mother tongue language performance and language revitalisation, together with training elements in decolonising Mary Overlie’s viewpoints. Actors will explore the manipulation of the gaze with filmed improvisations and develop embodied filmed responses to their peers’ stories. LANGUAGING is facilitated by Sibusiso Mkhize and brings together postgraduate and fourth-year actors including Nomvuyo Buthelezi, Moeketsi Kgotle and Nonhlanhla Precious Masombuka.
The project is part of my Arts Research Africa Postdoctoral Fellowship ‘Decolonising language ideologies in the body’, mentored by Samuel Ravengai.
This page will feature highlights from the process, as documented through the hashtag #LANGUAGINGACTORS on Twitter:
#LANGUAGINGACTORS DAY 4 17.11.2021: Sibusiso Mkhize says (this poem) ‘It was gliding. Yebo? [yes?] It be flo-w’… ‘Ushelela’ [smooth] adds Nomvuyo.’Yes, thanks and interestingly shelela means to slip, you know?’ (Both laugh). (1/2)
#LANGUAGINGACTORS DAY 4 17.11.2021: Director Sibusiso Mkhize listens to the actor’s autobiographical poems, suggesting ‘I hear a use of time, rhythm and pauses… those pauses are motivated by the story’. #africanrhythm #africanstories #africanlanguages
#LANGUAGINGACTORS DAY 2 9.11.2021: ‘…ulimi mzimba – language of the body. And how much of mzimba has been #decolonised to act in a certain way’ Director Sibusiso Mkhize synthesises actors’ shared experiences in the concluding moments of their 2nd consciousness-raising session.
#LANGUAGINGACTORS DAY 1 27.10.21: Facilitator Sibusiso Mkhize claps a 6/8 rhythm and asks actors what language/culture it is from. Actors respond with ‘Setswana’. ‘Yes’, he says, before clapping a Zulu rhythm. Time is understood differently across cultures, impacting performance.
Photo credit: University of Witwatersrand
