Represent Review: MoLoRa @ the Market
Sitting in the cosy enclave of the Barney Simon theatre on press night at award-winning writer and director Yael Farber’s play MoLoRa is no mean feat for an amateur. Leaning forward all around you sit wizened thespians cuddled up close to expectant theatre journo’s, whose concentrating faces you recognise from the little photo’s next to their columns. As the lights went down I felt like a bit of a fraud amongst the aficionados, for although I studied Drama and have spent a lot of my life popping in and out of theatres, I ain’t no expert. The subject is “Yael Farber’s acclaimed adaptation of the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus, set in a contemporary South African context.” It’s a complicated story and somewhat unknown tale – we found it to be a challenging play to review… we’ve been struggling to eloquently word what we felt. But review it we must and review it from the POV of the everyday man and citizen journo we must do too. It’s the only way we know how. Firstly, let’s talk about the great things about Molora, starting with the the powerful soundscape provided by a group of animated and delightful older Xhosa musicians (gogo’s!). They are as much a part of the story as the lead characters, providing textured and haunting mood changes and at times a poignant, eery, mystical soundtrack through traditional instruments and an incredible split-tone guttural singing style. Watching and listening to them one is easily transported to a deep-rooted Xhosa gathering in the green hills of the Eastern Cape – their music weaving it’s tribal rhythms through the narrative… Then there’s the set which was minimalist but craftily designed around the story’s needs, with the numerous performers feeling comfortable on a small stage – the clever use of the space and it’s flexibility allowed us the freedom to fill in the gaps with our imagination. Our favourite moment was when the young muscular Oresties swings in slow motion on a handle around the stage, mesmerising… The lighting design was superb, moving from harsh neon glare to deep and intimate warm isolated scenes. The performance was highly energetic and very physical and loud – the part of the daughter, Electra was a gallant effort by Jabulile Tshabalala, who put enormous concentration and her soul into her demanding role. Sandile Matsheni played the smaller role of Orestes, wearing the emotions of his character artfully. The part that we were confused by was that played by Dorothy Anne Gould who appeared to be over-acting and over-playing her character in an almost amateur-theatre style. “Look at how cross and mad I look, listen to how deep my angry voice...
We will be back!
