Xolelwa is very excited today. There’s the prospect of us
visiting the theatre to see the stage performance of Brett Bailey’s iMumbo
Jumbo. She’s my guide to whom I’ve assigned the task of choosing my shows. This
is no simple assignment. I’m a perfectionist. It’s not at all easy to please
me. I want to feel the deep meaning of an artistic rendition and be drenched in
its trajectories.
“This play will leave you spellbound” Xolelwa tells
me with pregnable persuasion. “But why” I ask. “There’s Thuthula by Chris Mann,
The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, Cry My beloved Country as dramatized by
Heinrich Reisenhofer, Auditioning Angels by Pieter Dickis Uys and a host of
plays showing at the many venues of the international arts festival in Grahamstown.
Xolelwa heaves. “Do you've a worldview? What
existential link is there between the physical and spiritual realm?” She asks.
I gasped in anxiety. “Let iMumbo Jumbo supply the answers” she teases.
Instantly my interest is awakened. I’m a culture enthusiast to whom digging
into myths is an obsession. I’ve explored the Delphi of ancient Greek, the tomb
of Giza in Egypt and the shrines of Oshun
Oshogbo. Yet my yearning for cultural exploration seems insatiable.
I agree to attend.
It’s few minutes past 2 pm. We’re inside the
capacity-filled Nombulelo hall. The door is closed. But there’s a bit of delay.
At an angle from the rear, I catch a glimpse of the backstage. The cast have
adorned their traditional costume. They’re putting finishing touches to their
appearance. There stands Bailey tending stridently to the slightest details. He
puts a misplaced accessory in order and enchantingly stimulates his cast.
A steady Transkei drumbeat begins. Like a
hypnotic spell, it encapsulates our mind and frees our inner being. It elevates
us soon to the preternatural and brings us back to the physical realm with the
gusto of a swinging pendulum. Gbaaaam! The curtain opens. The epic story
unfolds. We see a South
Africa where violent crimes have plundered
the moral sanctum and a chief Gcaleka - the charismatic African myth hero
character - happiest at conquest. He embarks on a sanctimonious journey
to retrieve the skull of King Hintsa to redeem the situation. He's confronted
by storm and siege, whirlwind and tempest.
For him nothing is honorable except the goblet of victory. No half
measures. No retreat. He either wins or loses.
Now the play is over. I am completely drenched in
Bailey’s metaphysical world. Xolelwa tells me Bailey had to spend 3 months in
the tents of traditional witchdoctors (sangomas) in rural Transkei
learning the deep mystical flourish of Xhosa tradition to be able to write this
play. There's a potent lesson for me. When I return to Nigeria, spend
some time with traditionalists in rural areas. Like chief Gcaleka, I want to
find the 'holy grail' to end the tumultuous kidnappings and militancy, which
like South Africa,
have bedeviled our society and plundered our moral sanctum.
