Sharing sorrow, sharing hope: Tshepang ? The Third Testament

The evening of 6 March 2004 was a time of great emotion, emerging talent and excellence at the eKhaya Art Centre in KwaMashu?s C-Section, KZN, where its AfriSun Amphitheatre was the venue for a one-night-only performance of the play ?Tshepang ? The 3rd Testament?.

Starring Mncedisi Shabangu and Kholeka Qwabe in the lead roles, this was the first dramatic work ever to have been staged at the theatre, and the audience was spellbound by the outstanding quality of the performances, the highly creative stage-set and the powerful script. The playwright and director, Lara Foot Newton, gives the background to the play:

?In 2001, South Africa was devastated by the news of the brutal rape of a nine-month-old child named ?Baby Tshepang?. It was thought that she had been gang-raped by a group of six men, but it was later discovered that the men had been wrongly accused and that she had been raped and sodomised by her mother?s boyfriend. Once the story of Baby Tshepang hit the news headlines, hundreds of similar stories were also revealed, and with 20 000 rapes a year being recorded, it is vital that this ?epidemic? of child rape be confronted. Theatre is a good place to start.?

It is difficult to describe the power of this play and the exceptional abilities of all those involved in its production. Although the township and characters depicted in the play are fictional, the use of simple objects and imaginative stage direction of only two actors, express symbolically both the harshness of poverty and the tenderness of community bonds.

While Shabangu?s character gradually tells the story of the household and its neighbours, the rape and the media invasion that follows, moving through a range of passionate descriptions, Qwabe in the female lead role (the mother of the violated child) has no words to say ? she conveys the trauma, shame and loss of her experience in complete silence, desperately scrubbing the ground, losing herself in memory and staring into unknown spaces.

The male narrator often refers to the sun ? which beats down onto the township dwellings, giving no relief from the hot, dusty, dry environment -as ?Makulu?, the great light that sees everything, all the time. Pairs of spectacles are hanging everywhere, urging us to think of our own blind prejudice, the hypocrisy of the public eye, and the need for a united vision for a more caring society. ?Shame on all of us,? sobs Shabangu?s character. ?This town was gang-raped long ago??. He reminds us that the name ?Tshepang? means ?hope?, and that despite the cruelty of deprivation and violence, human beings are capable of deep love and selflessness. The child within every adult is the key to this hope.

Kholeka Qwabe recalls that when she and Mncedisi Shabangu did their first reading of the script, everyone on the set wept. ?It was an intensely emotional process,? she says. ?At first I was too angry to accept the redemption that comes through at the end, so the whole production took us through a hard journey to forgiveness. But that?s the play?s message: that we are all so fragile and yet so strong.?

The evening ended with great rejoicing when the producer, Maurice Podbrey, made a surprise announcement about national recognition for the production. On behalf of the judges, he presented Shabangu with the Fleur du Cap 2003/04 award for Best Actor and Qwabe with her nomination for Best Actress; ?Tshepang ? The 3rd Testament? had scooped the award for Best Play of the year. The cast and team were due to take the play to Switzerland and Canada in the following weeks.

KwaMashu?s beautiful eKhaya Art Centre is now home to a number of exciting new community projects. Contact the Director and founder, EDMUND MHLONGO, on 082 487 7167 (or by e-mail at [email protected]) for more information.

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