Thando Doni makes the theater magical. The director’s scenes are spaces where the love and effect of alcohol unexpectedly makes bottles of wine appear, skillfully pulled from under a table in an almost endless loop. Where sacred are the bodies of four men leaning over a basin to wash themselves. And where the birth of twins, with their bodies twisting and the thick white cord that binds them, foreshadows the struggle from which they are never quite delivered.

Doni has great respect for stories and uses them as a social vehicle for anything that needs to be said. It is a skill that has led him to work with teenagers, former prisoners, theater interns, film students, actors in large ensembles and puppeteers.

He crossed the invisible divides that characterize the art of theater in Cape Town and worked on stages as diverse as the Artscape, the Baxter, the old matchbox factory that houses the Magnet Theater, and even a church. became an independent theater at Observatory and the rental office which is now an arts space in Delft.

But it was Khayelitsha’s schools, courtyards and community centers that nurtured Doni long before he was named Young Artist for the Standard Bank Theater in 2021.

Associated article:

• Cara Stacey wants to move the music forward

His latest work is Ndiza Kuwe, which was performed to a small audience of no more than 15 at the Theater Arts in Observatory in August. This was Doni’s first offering since 2019 and featured Asanda Rilityana and Sisipho Mbopa as gay lovers Asithandile and Nontando. Seeing these exceptional performers together on stage was a rare joy, as they are often relegated to supporting or ensemble roles on Cape Town stages.

In the first few minutes, audiences were introduced to the things Doni values ​​most – the use of isiXhosa, strong, dynamic physicality, music as a character, and love. Asithandile and Nontando exchanged flirtatious beards with a hip swing here, a shy laugh there, and the exaggerated posture that comes with new love.

Ndiza Kuwe reminded Mhla Salamana, in which Rilityana also played half of a union, but which fell apart due to abuse, violence and infidelity. The production won Doni the award for best director at the Zabalaza Theater Festival in 2011. One of the most memorable images was of a child lying on his mother’s back: both a responsibility and a burden. that the woman had to carry in front of her. failing union. In Ndiza Kuwe, the internal wounds of the lovers threatened to tear them apart, and in their distress they also became child, burden and responsibility.

A physical style

In Doni’s work, the worlds of the characters are often expressed through physical gestures, creating strong visual impressions. It’s not surprising. He, like Rilityana and Mbopa, is an alumnus of the Magnet Theater full-time internship program, which was launched in 2008.

The Magnet, whose artistic directors are Mark Fleishman, Jennie Reznek and Mandla Mbothwe, is renowned for creating intensely physical theater that emphasizes body language. Rilityana and Doni were among the first cohort of graduates from the training program, with Mbopa joining in 2012.

The program introduced many performers to this style of work and resulted in several productions, mainly in English but also in isiXhosa, Afrikaans or in several languages. The style isn’t always easily translatable, however, and Mbopa remembers taking his aunt to watch her play. “She would say that the things we do with our bodies are complicated, and because we only spoke English, it was difficult for her to understand,” says Mbopa. “She would only enjoy the dancing parts and the singing.”

Associated article:

• “Flowers” for the founder of the “theater of resistance”

Thami Mbongo, actor, activist and one of the founders of the Zabalaza festival, credits training programs created by institutions such as Magnet, JazzArt Dance Theater and Unima South Africa for introducing alternative ways of creating theater outside of the homogeneous theatrical sensibilities that dominate traditional community theater spaces.

He explains the importance for these styles of finding “a way that the public can truly understand” given their potential for alienation and inaccessibility. Mbongo says the way Doni combines music, physical drama and storytelling “makes it easier. [to enjoy] even for someone who does not know the different forms of theater ”.

Doni told arts journalist Theresa Smith in 2012 that at Magnet, she was told to do theater “that creeps under the skin.” It’s got to cause something. He likes provocations deeply rooted in a social context. His fascination with movement predates his work in the theater.

Understanding the body

In high school, Doni was a cha-cha and ballroom dance teacher for a dance and percussion troupe called the Manyanani Entertainers. This could explain his sensitivity to the multiple ways in which bodies express themselves.

“I think he understands something about the body, the voice and the unconscious gesture,” says Kanya Viljoen, a young director who saw Doni’s production in 2019. Isityhilelo. In the play, the movement highlighted the world of charismatic preachers and the dark underbelly of crime. “He knew the language. He knew the gesture of knocking on the Bible, or a cup in the hand asking for money, or the tipping of a hat.

Doni 2017 Phefumla! (To breathe) extended the idea of ​​body to the whole. The decorator connected corrugated sheets to a kinetic system that the actors, four former prisoners, could control. In quiet moments, the decor breathed, reinforcing the idea that the environment in which men lived threatened their breath, and therefore their life.

In Ndiza Kuwe, physicality was driven by the need for an intimate embrace. The two lovers moved between reaching out to each other, kissing, sleeping and holding each other. Every time they moved, their bodies would say “I need you”, “I want you”, “Don’t leave me”, “Please save me”.

Associated article:

• MaZo was the sweet “lion” of the Cape Town theater

For Mawande Sobethwa, head of the creative group at the advertising agency Publicis Machine in Cape Town, Doni feels “like the second coming of Mandla Mbothwe”. Doni shares many stylistic and thematic elements with the Mbothwe, one being their use of their native language, which Sobethwa admires. “I am a huge fan of Mandla’s work and uThando Doni was a very refreshing take on what Mandla had put in place and achieved during his tenure. It was to a large extent like a passing of the baton, ”says Sobethwa.

Mbothwe’s relationship with Doni runs deep. Mentor and protégé, they are also accomplices, having notably collaborated on the adaptation of SEK Mqhayi’s film Ityala Lamawele. However, there are marked differences in their work. “I normally work from the collective wound, which is the archive of mass colonial crimes,” Mbothwe explains. “He [Doni] always works from a place of love. Most of his productions are songs that are musically focused on love.

Mhla Salamana did this beautifully, incorporating the four-piece a cappella group Muziek Sensation into the performance to act as a sort of choir. Playing through speakers, the music in Ndiza Kuwe lacked that warmth.

Uncertain Notes

Ndiza Kuwe revealed Doni’s strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. Its usual weaving of narrative, physical language and imagery did not merge. The lovers were presented through a hyper-romantic lens filled with poetic isiXhosa. The language was imaginative and expansive as it encapsulated what Asithandile and Nontando felt. This world was disrupted by Nontando’s drinking, which was catalyzed by the death of his daughter, and the two characters were drawn into separate worlds.

This world was once again disrupted by the inclusion of couples therapy, which felt like a centerpiece of a romantic comedy. The disjunction between worlds became more apparent when Asithandile and Nontando talked to their therapist or told bedtime stories in English. The use of English felt forced, a deliberate attempt to attract an audience otherwise separate from the African language and the lives of the characters.

Perhaps this was a sign of an uncertain director, but throughout Doni’s career he has deliberately told stories using isiXhosa not only to connect with his audience, but also to claim that these stories can be told without translation.

Associated article:

• Independent theaters create access to the arts

Plus, while Doni has already explored a strange story in the play Eutopia, in Ndiza Kuwe the orientation of the lovers seems incidental, which is refreshing but the couple remains displayed through the gendered division between the “masculine” and the “feminine”.

However, created under a level four lockdown and amid particularly violent taxi and bus protests in Cape Town, Ndiza Kuwe was special. At 35, Doni is an independent director who creates with what he has at his disposal. Her versatility is considered by Nwabisa Plaatjie, coordinator and curator of Baxter’s Masambe Theater, as a talent but also a skill born of necessity.

“Sure he can develop a job from scratch, but it’s a survival job,” she says, pointing out that Doni creates his best work when he has the financial and creative freedom to collaborate with musical directors. , scenographers and choreographers.

Associated article:

• Mncedisi Shabangu, the versatile master of the theater

Thembela Madliki, director, director and part-time speaker, says Doni is “an example of the amount of commitment, persistence and love for the job that you need to have to keep doing it.” I want to live in a time when we have his work in the archives.

It is true that Doni’s work is not easily accessible through the archives. Despite this, he has already left an indelible mark on the Cape Town theater scene. Ten years after its debut, Mhla Salamana remains one of his most striking works. Ityala Lamawele is also a firm favorite. His adaptation of the AC Jordan novel Ingqumbo Yeminyanya with Magnet Theater interns earlier this year could signal a niche for Doni in the adaptation of classic isiXhosa lyrics. Doni’s work deserves to be recognized. Ndiza Kuwe was a reminder that he’s best when he breathes life into stories and that the theater in Cape Town, and that in South Africa, is at its best when given the room to do so.