Breathe: Grief Unspoken
PREVIEW
By Benevolence Mazhinji
At some point in our lives, grief has crashed us into tiny, unrecognisable pieces of ourselves. It has stripped us bare and left us to gather the remains in order to plaster together some resemblance of a new identity.
Probably everyone can admit that, in those moments, we found ourselves scrambling for words to name our experiences and searching for people who could understand the feelings that threatened to consume us. That’s why Breathe: Grief Unspoken invites us to a holding space for these unspoken emotions. The creators of this show have spent six months gathering intimate and vulnerable stories about personal loss, and they have started conversations about how to grow around grief without avoiding it.
We are all grieving something
The director and producer of the production, Tshegofatso Makube, said, “I think we are all grieving every day of our lives, we’re grieving something, whether it’s a part of yourself or it’s the loss of someone.” In response to this universal experience, the show seeks to create a space where we can openly explore and understand grief and find ways to support and comfort each other.
Various themes of grief will be explored in the performance, said Makube. “One of the themes that came up a lot during the interviews is the loss of self. When you lose your job, that was your identity, or if you were a top student and you started failing, that is a loss of self because something you truly identified with is no longer who you are, and it’s difficult to process that.” The central question the show’s creators grappled with is: What can we do culturally and spiritually to self-soothe? Part of their answer was to start this conversation.
Dimensions and senses
Breathe: Grief Unspoken features a multisensory approach which combines documentaries, performances and live music to explore and convey the complexities of grief. The music was written and composed specifically for this production, and the team worked together on crafting original lyrics and instrumentals. Makube emphasised that when you want to create a space where people are more empathetic towards each other, you need that multidimensional aspect of hearing, of seeing and of feeling.
Breathe: Grief Unspoken is in the Beethoven Room at 7pm on Friday 12 September and Saturday 13 September. Tickets: R60 students, R80 pensioners, R100 adults, available online and at the door.
