Biography
Mandla Mbothwe is an award-winning South African theater-maker, published playwright, researcher, curator, director, producer, and art teacher with over twenty-five years in the industry. Over the years, he has created, developed, and presented high-quality theatre productions staged across South Africa and abroad. He has conceptualized and curated multiple commissioned international festivals, awards ceremonies and colloquiums. He has conceptualised, developed, and managed art development and training programs. He has created and executed developmental programs in formal and informal settings, from community groups to creative arts centers. He successfully heads various institutions and serves others as a lecturer, curator, and board member.
Synopsis
OoMama booMendi…Women of Mendi is a processional and durational live arts installation designed to honor the memories of the men who tragically drowned in the icy waters of the English Channel during a foggy morning. This installation seeks to encapsulate the themes of loss, courage, resilience, and cultural remembrance through a dynamic and immersive performance. The project will take place across three significant locations: the UCT Middle Campus Mendi Monument, the Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial in Company Gardens, and Mendi Avenue in KwaLanga, in collaboration with Eziko Restaurant. This performance aims to create a space where the community can collectively mourn, reflect, and celebrate the lives impacted by this heartbreaking event, forging a deeper connection to history and each other.
Concept: OoMama booMendi will be a processional durational performance featuring 15 to 20 performers dressed in white with black veils, and black in white veils, with feet and hands smeared with different colours of Imbola. Each performer will embody the collective memory of the lost souls, with some carrying soldiers’ boots around their necks to signify the burden of loss and sacrifice. Others will hold traditional tools such as knobkerries, buckets of water, and various elements that evoke the natural world, including sea salt, impepho, spears, ropes, school bells, kudu-horns, and various kinds of whistles. The performance will weave together individual and chorus activities, interspersed with poetic text recitals, include that of SEK Mqhayi and that of Reverend Isaacs Dyobha, that echo the sentiments of those affected by the tragedy, creating multiple voices that bridge and hybrid time and challenge the notions of past and present.