A hazy cloud of smoke, some building debris and a wooden walkway set the scene. The smoke machine blows out more smoke, a single light goes on, and a figure emerges in the background. Take this moment to collect your thoughts and prepare yourself for a solid hour of non-stop physical theatre magic.
A hazy cloud of smoke, some building debris and a wooden walkway set the scene. The smoke machine blows out more smoke, a single light goes on, and a figure emerges in the background. Take this moment to collect your thoughts and prepare yourself for a solid hour of non-stop physical theatre magic.
Taking place in the Rhodes University Drama Department's Box Theatre, Acty Tang’s Hunger was performed for the first time on Wednesday 21 May, capturing the full attention of the audience with its beautiful, but deeply unsettling scenes.
With a 16 member cast containing Rhodes University drama students and performers from First Physical Theatre Company, the piece focusses on the types of physical and psychological hunger that drive our nation.
Through the expression and movement of its performers, Hunger aims to highlight and question the sever imbalances apparent in South Africa.
Long, intricately choreographed scenes performed to the backtracks of protests and struggle songs communicate the theme of socio-political hunger in a powerful and easily translatable manner.
Other fast paced dance routines are performed to hard rock tracks, conveying the frustration of a nation with its current state.
By using a movable set, the stage is transformed numerous times, allowing the audience to travel into different scenes with the performers and makes full use of the Box Theatre to accommodate the entire cast.
Another crucial element of the piece is the use of costume design, which was overseen by Illka Louw.
Louw brilliantly adapted the costumes to the different characters and scenes, creating Kabuki-style costumes out of everyday materials.
Tang explained that he presented the concept of Hunger to Louw and left the costume design in her hands, letting her interpret the look and fashion of the various outfits entirely.
“Ilke was great with the costumes. She watched some of the rehearsals and then created everything from what she had taken from seeing the cast perform” said Tang.
“The costumes themselves are very intricate which adds a lot to the performance itself. This allows the audience to interpret a lot more from the piece as a whole.”
Playing on the themes of corruption, poverty and various governmental injustices, there is a clear division between the cast during parts of the performance which see the social elite looking down upon and being catered to by the poverty stricken characters.
The feelings of the elite characters towards the poor characters are obvious: some of the poor characters pass away, are covered in cling wrap and discarded of in a particularly powerful scene.
Another notable scene contains a character being ‘selected’ by one of the prominent governmental figures to become his bride.
Speaking of the scene, Tang explains that whilst he encourages the audience to take their own meaning from what they see, there are certain themes that run throughout the performance, such as the symbol of marriage being used to signify ritual.
“Recurring themes of power relations, roles and positions in society, the loss and gain of control and the abuse of various members of society can be seen in a few scenes,” said Tang.
“But it’s important to come to the show with no preconceived ideas and to rather take in the dance and the music and other aspects of the performance to speak to your own interpretation of the piece.”
Notable performances come from Sikelelwa Qwazi who sings throughout a number of the scenes, highlighting the emotion of the performers and complimenting their rhythm perfectly.
Ameera Mills makes a powerful statement on corruption and greed with her solo scenes, while Kamagelo Molobye presented a captivating performance throughout a number of scenes, playing a variety of characters.
A shortened version of Tang’s Hunger will show at this year’s National Arts Festival as part of First Physical Theatre’s triple bill entitled Six for Gold.
