Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Contents
1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
02
2. Mozart’s Work
07
3. Opera
08
4. History of South Africa
10
5. Apartheid
13
6. South African Music
16
7. Music in the Young Vic’s Production of The Magic Flute
21
8. Synopsis
23
9. Character Breakdown
24
10. Cast and Creative Team
27
11.
Interview with David Lan, Artistic Director of the Young Vic
29
12. Interview with Mark Dornford-May, the Director
31
13. Interview with Mbali Kgosidintsi, actress
33
14. Interview Mandisi Dyantyis, the Music Director
34
15. Article by Kwame Kwei-Armah in the Guardian
36
16. Article by David Lan in the Independent
39
17. Assistant Directors’ Rehearsal Diary
42
18. Resources
50
If you have any questions or comments about this Resource Pack please contact
us:
The Young Vic, 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ
T: 020 7922 2858 F: 020 7922 2802 e: info@youngvic.org
Compiled by: James Farrell
Young Vic 2007
First performed at the Young Vic Theatre on 23rd November 2007
1
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
1. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and
influential composer of the Classical era (a style of classical music from
1750 to 1820). His output of over 600 compositions includes works widely
acknowledged as among the finest of symphonic, concerto, chamber, piano,
operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of
classical composers and many of his works are part of the standard concert
repertoire.
Family and Early Years
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, in what is now Austria, (then
part of the Holy Roman Empire). Mozart had only one surviving sibling, his
sister, Nannerl.
Mozart's father Leopold was deputy Kapellmeister (someone in charge of musicmaking) to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg and a minor
composer. He was also an experienced teacher and in the year of Mozart's birth
he published a successful violin textbook.
Leopold was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years. He taught his
children languages and academic subjects as well as music. While Leopold was a
2
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
very devoted teacher to his children, Mozart showed exceptional natural talent
that went beyond what his father was teaching him.
His first independent (and
ink-spattered) composition and his ability to play the violin were a great
surprise to Leopold. Leopold eventually gave up composing when his son's
outstanding musical talents became evident.
During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in
which the children, who both showed outstanding musical talents, were
exhibited as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the
Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich then in the same year at the
Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a
half years followed taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim,
Paris, London and The Hague.
During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself
with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was
Bach, who met Mozart in London in 1764–65.
The family went again to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December
1768. On this trip Mozart contracted smallpox but his father refused to have
him inoculated, believing that it was "God's will" whether the boy live or
die.
In 1769, after one year in Salzburg where he played for the court, three trips
to Italy followed. These trips were designed with the purpose of displaying
the now teenage Mozart's abilities as a performer and as a rapidly maturing
composer. Mozart was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica.
In Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the
Sistine Chapel, which he then wrote out in its entirety from memory, only
returning to correct minor errors; thus producing the first illegal copy of
this closely-guarded property of the Vatican. In Milan Mozart wrote an opera
Mitridate Rè di Ponto (1770), which was performed with great success.
3
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Toward the end of the final Italian journey, Mozart wrote the first of his
works that is still widely performed today, the solo cantata "Exsultate,
jubilate".
1773–1777: The Salzburg Court
At the age of seventeen Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler
of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. Mozart was a sort after
composer in Salzburg where he had the opportunity to compose in many genres,
including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, serenades, and the occasional
opera. Some of the works he produced during this early period are widely
performed today.
Despite these artistic successes, Mozart gradually grew more and more
discontented with Salzburg and made increasingly strenuous efforts to find a
position elsewhere. The reason seems to be in part his low salary, 150 florins
per year. In addition, Mozart longed to compose operas and Salzburg provided,
at best, rare occasions for opera productions. The situation became worse in
1775 when the court theatre was closed and the other theatre in Salzburg was
largely reserved for visiting troupes.
1781: Departure to Vienna
In January 1781, Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with considerable success
in Munich. The following March the composer was summoned to Vienna where his
employer, Prince-Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg, was attending the
celebrations for the installation of the Emperor Joseph II. Mozart, who had
just experienced such success in Munich, was offended when Colloredo treated
him as a mere servant and particularly when the Archbishop forbade him to
perform before the Emperor.
In May Mozart attempted to resign but was refused. The following month,
however, the delayed permission was granted but in a grossly insulting way:
Mozart was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse" administered by the
Archbishop's steward.
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
In the meantime, Mozart had noticed opportunities to earn a good living in
Vienna and he felt he ought to settle there and develop his own freelance
career.
Early Vienna Years
Mozart's new career in Vienna began very well. He performed often as a
pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi in
December 1781.
Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim.
The father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to
make ends meet.
Constanze, one of the daughters of the household and who was
a respected singer, met Mozart through this living arrangement and the couple
were married on 4th August, 1782.
They had six children of whom only two
survived infancy: Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang.
During 1782–1783, Mozart became more closely acquainted with the work of J S
Bach and G F Handel as a result of the influence of Baron Gottfried van
Swieten (a minor aristocrat who had a passion for music and collaborated with
many great composers such as Haydn, Beethoven and of course Mozart), who owned
many manuscripts of works by the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these
works first led to a number of works imitating Baroque style, and later had a
powerful influence on his own personal musical language.
At some time following his move to Vienna, Mozart met Joseph Haydn and the two
composers became friends.
During the years 1782–1785, Mozart put on a series of concerts in which he
appeared as soloist in his own piano concertos. He wrote three or four
concertos for each concert season and since space in the theaters was scarce,
he booked unconventional venues; a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment
building) and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were
5
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
very popular, and the concertos Mozart composed for them are considered among
his finest works.
With the substantial money Mozart earned from his concerts and elsewhere, he
and Constanze adopted a rather lavish lifestyle.
This led to financial
pressures for the Mozart family a few years later.
In December 1784, Mozart became a Mason, admitted to the lodge Zur
Wohltätigkeit (Beneficence). Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that
exists all around the world. Freemasonry played an important role in the
remainder of Mozart's life.
It also impacted on his work as he wrote a number
of pieces for the Masons including a number of Cantatas (a vocal piece). He
was promoted to journeyman Mason in January 1785, and became a master Mason
shortly thereafter. Mozart also attended the meetings of another lodge called
Zur wahren Eintracht (True Concord). This lodge was the largest and most
aristocratic in Vienna and Mozart as the best of the musical Brothers was
welcome in all the lodges.
1786–1787: Return to Opera
Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782, Mozart did
little writing of operas during the years that followed it. However, around
the end of 1785 Mozart reshifted his focus again. He ceased to write piano
concertos on a regular basis, and began his famous operatic collaboration with
the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. 1786 saw the Vienna premiere of The Marriage
of Figaro, which was relatively successful in Vienna and even more so in a
Prague production later the same year. The Prague success led to a commission
for a second Mozart-Da Ponte opera, Don Giovanni, which premiered 1787 to
acclaim in Prague and was also produced in Vienna in 1788. Both operas are
considered among Mozart's most important works and are mainstays of the
operatic repertoire today.
In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic
patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his chamber composer, a post
6
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
vacated when the previous chamber composer, Christoph Willibald Ritter von
Gluck (1714-1787), died. It was not a full-time job, paying only 800 florins
per year, and merely required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in
the Redoutensaal. Mozart complained to Constanze that the pay was "too much
for what I do, too little for what I could do". However, even this much money
proved important to Mozart later on when hard times arrived.
Toward the end of the decade Mozart's career declined. This was, in general, a
difficult time for musicians in Vienna, since between 1788 and 1791 Austria
was at war and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the
aristocracy to support music had declined. By mid-1788 Mozart and his family
moved from central Vienna to cheaper lodgings in the suburb of Alsergrund.
Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason
Michael Puchberg. During this time Mozart made a number of trips to Germany
hoping to improve his fortunes: a visit in spring of 1789 to Leipzig, Dresden,
and Berlin and a 1790 visit to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities.
But the trips produced only isolated success and did not solve Mozart's
financial problems.
1791
Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, one of great
productivity and personal recovery. During this time he wrote a great deal of
music, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute,
the final piano concerto, the Clarinet Concerto, the last in his great series
of string quintets, the motet Ave verum corpus, and the unfinished Requiem.
Mozart experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his
works, notably The Magic Flute (performed many times even during the short
period between its premiere and Mozart's death).
Mozart fell ill while in Prague.
He was able to continue his professional
functions for some time, for instance conducting the premiere of The Magic
Flute on September 30th. However, the illness intensified on 20th November at
which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
vomiting. Mozart was tended in his final illness by Constanze, her youngest
sister Sophie, and the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. Mozart was
composing his Requiem right up until his last moments of consciousness. He
died at 1 o’clock in the morning on December 5th.
The cause of his death cannot be determined with certainty. His death record
listed severe military fever, referring to a rash that looks like millet
seeds, a description that does not enable us to identify the cause in modern
medical terms. However, the most widely accepted diagnosis is that he died of
acute rheumatic fever; he had had three or even four known attacks of it since
his childhood, and this particular disease has a tendency to recur, leaving
increasingly serious consequences each time such as rampant infection and
heart valve damage.
Memorial services and concerts were held in Vienna and Prague and were well
attended and during the period following his death Mozart's musical reputation
rose substantially.
8
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
2. MOZART’S WORK
Style
Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetypal example of the Classical
style. The central traits of the classical style can all be identified in
Mozart's music - clarity, balance, and transparency. He was a versatile
composer and wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera, the
solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and
the piano sonata. While none of these genres were new, the piano concerto was
almost single-handedly developed and popularized by Mozart. He also wrote a
great deal of religious music, including masses; and he composed many dances,
serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
Over the course of his working life, Mozart switched his focus from
instrumental music to operas, and back again. He wrote operas in each of the
styles current in Europe: opera buffa (an informal description of Italian
comic operas), such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, or Così fan
tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and singspiel, of which The Magic Flute
is probably the most famous example by any composer.
Influence
Mozart's most famous pupil was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional
figure between the Classical and Romantic eras whom the Mozarts took into
their Vienna home for two years as a child during his studies.
More important is the influence Mozart had on later composers through the
example of his works. Beethoven, whose life overlapped with Mozart's, seems to
have been particularly strongly influenced by him. With the surge in his
reputation following his death, the study of Mozart's works became part of the
training of every classical musician, and he has subsequently been
immortalized as a musical legend.
9
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
10
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
3. OPERA
Opera is a form of musical and dramatic work in which singers convey the
story. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. The word opera
means ‘work’ in Italian suggesting that it combines the arts of solo and
choral singing, declamation, acting and dancing in a staged spectacle. An
opera performance incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as
acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes incorporates dance. The performance
is usually accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.
History
Dafne (1597) by Jacopo Peri is commonly regarded as the first opera, but the
first great composer of the new art form was Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643),
whose works are still performed today.
Opera soon spread from Venice and Rome throughout Italy and the rest of
Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped
to establish their national traditions. However, in the 18th century, Italian
opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such
as Handel and Mozart. Mozart was the most influential figure of late 18th
century opera, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian
comic operas, especially The Magic Flute - a landmark in the German tradition.
The tradition was developed further in the 19th century by Beethoven with his
Fidelio, inspired by the climate of the French Revolution. Later, Wagner was
one of the most revolutionary and controversial composers in musical history.
He gradually evolved a new concept of opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk (complete
work of art), a fusion of music, poetry and painting. He greatly increased the
role and power of the orchestra, creating scores with recurring themes often
associated with the characters and concepts of the drama; and he was prepared
to violate accepted musical conventions, such as tonality, in his quest for
greater expressivity. Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to
opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from Germanic legend
11
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The bel canto opera movement flourished in the early 19th century and is
exemplified by the operas of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti and many others.
Literally ‘beautiful singing’, bel canto opera derives from the Italian
stylistic singing school of the same name. Bel canto lines are typically
florid and intricate, requiring supreme agility and pitch control.
Following the bel canto era, a more direct, forceful style was rapidly
popularized by Verdi, beginning with his biblical opera Nabucco – this
heralded what is considered as the golden age of opera, led by Wagner in
Germany and Verdi in Italy. The golden age continued through the verismo era
in Italy – explified by composers such as Puccini - through to contemporary
French opera (Debussy's unique opera Pelléas et Mélisande), and Richard
Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier) in the early 20th century.
The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality
(Schoenberg and Berg), Neo-Classicism (Stravinsky), and Minimalism (Philip
Glass and John Adams). With the rise of recording technology, singers such as
Enrico Caruso became known to audiences beyond the circle of opera fans.
Modern Trends
A common trend throughout the 20th century, in both opera and general
orchestral repertoire, is the downsizing of orchestral forces. As patronage of
the arts decreases, new works are commissioned and performed with smaller
budgets, very often resulting in chamber-sized works, and one act operas. Many
of Benjamin Britten's operas are scored for as few as 13 instrumentalists.
Another feature of 20th century opera is the emergence of contemporary
historical operas. The Death of Klinghoffer and Nixon in China by John Adams,
and Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie exemplify the dramatisation on stage of
events in recent living memory, where characters portrayed in the opera were
alive at the time of the premiere performance.
12
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Furthermore, by the late 1930s, some musicals began to be written with a more
operatic structure. Porgy and Bess, influenced by jazz styles, and Candide,
with its sweeping, lyrical passages and farcical parodies of opera, both
opened on Broadway but became accepted as part of the opera repertory. Show
Boat, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Evita and others tell dramatic stories
through complex music and are now sometimes seen in opera houses.
Vocal Classifications
Singers and the roles they play are classified by voice type, based on the
tessitura, agility, power and timbre of their voices.
Male singers can be loosely classified by vocal range as bass, bass-baritone,
baritone, tenor and countertenor. Female singers can be loosely classified by
vocal range as contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano.
(Men sometimes sing in
the "female" vocal ranges, in which case they are termed sopranist or
countertenor). A particular singer's voice may change drastically over his or
her lifetime, rarely reaching vocal maturity until the third decade, and
sometimes not until middle age.
In The Magic Flute, Sarastro is a bass, Papageno is a baritone, Tamino is a
tenor and Pamina and Queen of the Night are sopranos.
13
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
4. THE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA
The history of South Africa is marked by migration, ethnic conflict, and the
anti-Apartheid struggle. The Khoisan – the name for two major ethnic groups of
Southern Africa - are the aboriginal people of the region who have lived there
for millennia. Black African South Africans are believed to originate from the
Great Lakes region of Africa in prehistoric times. The Cape Coloureds are a
mixed race whose ancestors were brought over from Indonesia, Madagascar,
India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as slaves.
White South Africans are
descendants of later European migrations from the 1600s onwards.
Ancient History
Around 2,500 years ago Bantu peoples migrated into Southern Africa from the
Niger River Delta. The indigenous Khoisan and the Bantu lived mostly
peacefully together. Beginning around 2,500 years ago some Bushman groups
acquired livestock from further north. Gradually, hunting and gathering gave
way to herding as the dominant economic activity as the Bushmen tended to
small herds of cattle and oxen. Community structures solidified and expanded,
and chieftaincies developed. The pastoralist Bushmen, known as Khoikhoi ("men
of men"), began to move further south. Along the way they intermarried with
the hunter-gatherer Bushmen, whom they referred to as San, prompting the use
of the term Khoisan. The Bantu-speakers practiced agriculture, farming various
crops as well as displaying skills in working iron.
Colonisation
In 1647, a Dutch vessel was wrecked at Table Bay at Cape Town. The marooned
crew built a fort and stayed for a year until they were rescued. Shortly after
the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) decided to establish a permanent
settlement to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter
and restock supplies.
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The new settlement traded out of necessity with the neighbouring Khoikhoi but
made deliberate attempts to restrict unnecessary contact. Partly as a
consequence, VOC employees found themselves faced with a labour shortage. To
remedy this, they released a small number of Dutch from their contracts and
permitted them to establish farms, with which they would supply the VOC
settlement from their harvests. This small group of farmers, or free burghers
(Boers) as they were known, steadily increased and began to expand their farms
into the territory of the Khoikhoi. They spoke the Afrikaans language, based
on Dutch.
To supplement the work force the VOC began to import large numbers of slaves
primarily from Madagascar and Indonesia. Many of the women married Dutch
settlers, the offspring of whom have become known as the Cape Coloureds. With
this additional labour, the areas occupied by the VOC expanded further to the
north and east, with inevitable clashes with the Khoikhoi. They drove the
Khoikhoi from their traditional lands, decimated them with European diseases,
and destroyed them with superior weapons when they fought back.
As the burghers continued to expand into the rugged hinterlands many began to
take up a semi-nomadic pastoral lifestyle. These were the first of the Boers
who were completely independent of official controls, extraordinarily selfsufficient, and isolated.
British at The Cape
As the 18th century drew to a close, Dutch merchant power began to fade and
the British moved in to fill the vacuum. Power resided solely with a white
élite in Cape Town, and differentiation on the basis of race was deeply
entrenched. Outside Cape Town and the immediate hinterland, isolated black and
white farmers populated the country.
In 1820 the British authorities persuaded about 5,000 middle-class families to
emigrate to South Africa with the promise of land and prosperity. Although
they were encouraged to settle in rural areas within three years, almost half
15
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
of these settlers had retreated to the towns to pursue the trades they had
held in Britain. This influx fractured the relative unity of white South
Africa.
Where the Boers had before gone largely unchallenged, Southern Africa now had
two European language groups and cultures. English-speakers became highly
urbanised, and dominated politics, trade, finance, mining, and manufacturing,
while the largely uneducated Boers were widely scattered living on remote
farms and small communities. The Boers started to grow increasingly
dissatisfied with British rule in the Cape Colony and the British proclamation
of the equality of the races particularly angered them.
From 1835, several groups of Boers, together with large numbers of Khoikhoi
and black servants, decided to trek off into the interior in search of greater
independence and uninhabited grazing lands. They found, it seemed, their
promised land, with space enough for their cattle to graze and their culture
of anti-urban independence to flourish and they soon established themselves
into various Boer Republics.
For a while it seemed that these republics would develop into stable states,
but the discovery of diamonds near Kimberley turned the Boers' world on its
head. Britain soon stepped in and annexed the area for itself and the Boers
were naturally angry that their impoverished republics missed out on the
economic benefits of the mines.
Long-standing Boer resentment turned into full-blown rebellion, and the first
Anglo-Boer War, known to Afrikaners (Boers) as the War of Independence, broke
out in 1880. This war continued for 22 years and became known to the British
as the Boer Wars. On 31 May 1902, after many casualties and losses on both
sides, a superficial peace came with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging.
Under its terms, the Boer republics acknowledged British sovereignty, while
the British in turn committed themselves to the reconstruction of the areas
under their control.
16
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
After several years of negotiations, the South Africa Act 1909 brought the
various areas of South Africa together as the Union of South Africa. Under the
provisions of the act, the Union remained British territory, but provided
home-rule for Boers.
English and Dutch became the official languages. Afrikaans did not gain
recognition as an official language until 1925. Despite a major campaign by
blacks and Coloureds, only whites could gain election to parliament and the
voter franchise remained as in the pre-Union republics and colonies – for
whites only, although this did change on several occasions to suit the needs
of the government of the day.
World War I
The Union of South Africa was tied closely to the British Empire, and
automatically joined with Great Britain and the allies against the German
Empire. Some elements of the South African army, mainly made up of Boers,
refused to fight against the Germans, and along with other opponents of the
Government, became known as the Maritz Rebellion. The government declared
martial law on 14 October 1914, and forces loyal to the government proceeded
to destroy the rebellion.
World War II
On September 4, 1939 the South African Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, declared
South Africa officially at war with Germany. Once again, Smuts took severe
action against the pro-Nazi South African movement, who were caught committing
acts of sabotage, and jailed its leaders for the duration of the war.
Aftermath of World War II
South Africa emerged from the Allied victory with its prestige and national
honour enhanced as it had fought tirelessly for the Western Allies.
17
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
However, internal political struggles in the disgruntled and essentially
impoverished Afrikaner community soon came to the fore leading to Smuts'
defeat at the polls in the 1948 elections at the hands of a resurgent National
Party. The National Party’s policies led to South Africa’s isolation from
other countries which condemned the introduction of Apartheid. (See Section 4
on The Apartheid).
5. APARTHEID
As soon as the National Party (NP) gained power in 1948 they implemented
Apartheid (meaning separate-ness in Afrikaans), a system of racial
segregation.
The rules of Apartheid legally classified people into three
distinct racial groups; black, white and coloured.
Blacks became citizens of one of ten bantustans (homelands) that were
nominally sovereign nations. These black homelands were economically the least
productive areas in the country and many black South Africans had never lived
in these areas.
Education, medical care, and other public services were segregated, and those
available to black people were of an inferior standard.
Other notable aspects of Apartheid included:

The Group Areas Act of 1950 became the heart of the apartheid system
designed to geographically separate the racial groups. The Separate
Amenities Act of 1953 created, among other things, separate beaches,
buses, hospitals, schools and universities.

Interracial marriages were made illegal.

All South Africans were compelled to carry identity documents. For
blacks, these identity documents became a sort of passport which
prevented them from migrating into white South African areas.
18
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May

For blacks, living in the cities was restricted to those who had
employment. Families were excluded, thus separating wives from husbands
and parents from children.

By 1956 coloureds (mixed race) were removed from the common voters' roll
in the Cape, and a separate voters' roll was established for them.

During the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the government implemented a
policy of resettlement, to force black people to move to their
designated group areas. It is thought that over three and a half million
people were forced to resettle during this period. The best-publicised
forced removals of the 1950s occurred in Johannesburg, when 60,000
people were moved to the new township of Soweto (an acronym for South
Western Townships). Forced removals continue in post-apartheid South
Africa and are being vigorously contested by, amongst others, the shack
dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.
All of these measures put the black South Africans at a massive disadvantage
to the whites.
Women Under Apartheid
Colonialism and Apartheid had a major impact on women since they suffered both
racial and gender discrimination. Oppression against African women was
different from discrimination against men. They had very little or no legal
rights, no access to education and no right to own property. Jobs were often
hard to find but many African women worked as agricultural or domestic
workers, though wages were extremely low, if not non-existent.
As a result children suffered from diseases caused by malnutrition and
sanitary problems, and mortality rates were high. The controlled movement of
African workers within the country through the Natives Urban Areas Act of 1923
and the pass-laws, separated family members from one another as men usually
worked in urban centres, while women were forced to stay in rural areas.
19
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Internal Resistance
In 1949, the conservative leadership of the African National Congress (ANC)
was overthrown by its Youth League (ANCYL) and they advocated (for the first
time ever) a policy of open defiance and resistance. This unleashed the 1950s'
Programme of Action, which resulted in occasional violent clashes, with mass
protests, stay-aways, boycotts and strikes predominating.
Consequently the government was forced temporarily to relax its Apartheid
legislation, but that was not the campaign's only success: as a direct result,
membership of the ANC increased and attention was drawn to Apartheid's
injustices. Once things had calmed down, however, the government responded
with an iron fist, taking several severe measures.
Nelson Mandela, who had been arrested and charged with terrorism, was tried
for treason at the widely publicised Rivonia Trial. In June 1964, Mandela and
seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism. The trial was
condemned by the United Nations Security Council, and was a major force in the
introduction of international sanctions against the South African government.
Young blacks inside South Africa committed themselves to the struggle against
Apartheid, under the catchphrase "Liberation before education". Black
communities became highly politicised.
Final Years of Apartheid
Serious political violence was a prominent feature of South Africa from 1985
to 1995. For three years police and soldiers patrolled South African towns,
thousands of people were detained and deaths mounted on both sides. The ANC
exploded bombs in restaurants, shopping centres and in front of government
buildings such as magistrates courts, killing and maiming civilians and
government officials in the process.
By 1985, it had become the ANC's aim to make black townships ungovernable (a
term later replaced by "people's power") by forcing residents to stop paying
20
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
for services. The townships duly became the focus areas in the Apartheid
struggle.
Negotiations
From 1990 to 1994, President F. W. de Klerk led the National Party government
in negotiating with the ANC in order to end Apartheid. In his opening address
to parliament in February 1990, in what has come to be known as the ‘Unbanning
Speech’, President De Klerk announced that he would repeal discriminatory laws
and lift the ban on the ANC. The purpose of these negotiations was to pave the
way for a peaceful transition of power. Mandela called on other countries to
persist with their economic sanctions but, at the second 1990 meeting of the
ANC and the NP at Pretoria, he announced the ANC's bringing an end to its
armed struggle.
At the first democratic elections in 1994 20,000,000 South Africans turned up
to cast their votes. People had two votes to cast - one for a National
Government and another for a Provincial Government. There was some difficulty
in organising the voting in rural areas, but throughout the country, people
waited patiently for many hours in order to vote. The ANC won 62.7% of the
vote and Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically-elected
president.
In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for
their work for the peaceful termination of the Apartheid regime, and for
laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa".
Legacies of Apartheid
Many of the inequalities created and maintained by Apartheid still remain in
South Africa. Poverty is still largely defined by skin colour, with black
people constituting the poorest layer.
21
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
6. SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC
The story of South African music is one of dialogue with imported forms, and
varying degrees of hybridisation over the years. From the earliest colonial
days until the present time, South African music has created itself out of the
mingling of local ideas and forms with those from outside the country, giving
it a unique flavour.
Beginnings
In the Dutch colonial era, from the 17th century on, indigenous tribespeople
and slaves imported from the East adapted Western musical instruments and
ideas.
The Khoi-Khoi, for instance, developed the ramkie, a guitar with three or four
strings, based on that of Malabar slaves, and used it to blend Khoi and
Western folk songs.
Western music was played by slave orchestras (the governor of the Cape, for
instance, had his own slave orchestra in the 1670s), and travelling musicians
of mixed heritage moved around the colony entertaining at dances and other
functions, a tradition that continued into the era of British domination after
1806.
The minstrel carnival, held in Cape Town every New Year, is a flamboyant
tradition going back to the early 1820s.
The Carnival which is similar in
style to that of a British marching military band, has coloured bands of
musicians and dancers parading through the streets, as well as variety acts
and comic skits.
Missionaries & Choirs
The penetration of missionaries into the interior over the succeeding
centuries also had a profound influence on South African musical styles. In
22
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
the late 1800s, early African composers such as John Knox Bokwe began
composing hymns that drew on traditional Xhosa harmonic patterns.
In 1897, Enoch Sontonga, then a teacher, composed the hymn Nkosi Sikelel'
iAfrika (God Bless Africa), which was later adopted by the liberation movement
and later became the national anthem of a democratic South Africa.
The missionary influence, plus the later influence of American spirituals,
spurred a gospel movement that is still very strong in South Africa today,
with artists who regularly achieve sales of gold and platinum status.
The choirs, combined with the traditional vocal music of South Africa also
gave rise to a mode of a capella singing that blend the style of Western hymns
with indigenous harmonies.
This tradition is still alive today in the isicathamiya form, of which
Ladysmith Black Mambazo are the foremost and most famous exponents.
This vocal music is the oldest traditional music known in South Africa. It was
communal, accompanying dances or other social gatherings, and involved
elaborate call-and-response patterns.
Though some instruments such as the mouth bow were used, drums were relatively
unknown. Throughout the nineteenth century, instruments used in areas to the
north of what is now South Africa, such as the mbira or thumb-piano from
Zimbabwe, or drums or xylophones from Mozambique, began to find a place in the
traditions of South African music-making.
The development of a black urban proletariat and the movement of many black
workers to the mines in the 1800s meant that differing regional traditional
folk music styles met and began to flow into one another. Western
instrumentation was used to adapt rural songs, which in turn started to
influence the development of new hybrid modes of music-making (as well as
dances) in the developing urban centres.
23
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Marabi
In the early years of the 20th century, the increasing urbanisation of black
South Africans in mining centres such as the Witwatersrand led to the
development of slums and shanty towns where new forms of hybrid music began to
arise.
Marabi was the name given to a keyboard style (usually played on pedal organs,
which were relatively cheap to acquire) that had something in common with
American ragtime and the blues, played in ongoing cycles with roots deep in
the African tradition.
The sound of marabi was intended to draw people into the shebeens (bars
selling homemade liquor or skokiaan) and then to get them dancing. It used a
few simple chords repeated in vamp patterns that could go on all night.
Associated with the illegal liquor dens and with vices such as prostitution,
the early marabi musicians formed a kind of underground musical culture and
were not recorded.
But the lilting melodies and loping rhythms of marabi found their way into the
sounds of the bigger dance bands, modelled on American swing groups, which
began to appear in the 1920s; it added to their distinctively South African
style.
Such bands, which produced the first generation of professional black
musicians in South Africa, achieved considerable popularity in the 1930s and
1940s: star groups such as The Jazz Maniacs, The Merry Blackbirds and the Jazz
Revellers rose to fame, winning huge audiences among both blacks and whites.
So successful were some of these bands, in fact, that jealous white musicians
used the regulations against racial mixing and the liquor laws to hamper their
progress.
24
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Over the succeeding decades, the marabi-swing style developed into early
mbaqanga, the most distinctive form of South African jazz, which has given its
flavour to much South African music since then, from the jazz performers of
the post-war years to the more populist township forms of the 1980s.
The beginnings of broadcast radio intended for black listeners and the growth
of an indigenous recording industry helped propel such sounds to immense
popularity from the 1930s onward.
A truly indigenous musical language was coming into being.
Kwela
One of the offshoots of the marabi sound was kwela, which brought South
African music to international prominence in the 1950s. The term "kwela" is
derived from the Zulu for "get up", though in township slang it also referred
to the police vans, the "kwela-kwela". Thus it could be an invitation to join
the dance as well as a warning.
The primary instrument of kwela, in the beginning, was the pennywhistle, a
cheap and simple instrument which was taken up by street performers in the
shanty towns. Part of the popularity of the pennywhistle was based on the fact
that flutes of different kinds had long been traditional instruments among the
peoples of the more northerly parts of South Africa, and the pennywhistle thus
enabled the swift adaptation of folk tunes into the new marabi-inflected
idiom. It is said that the young men who played the pennywhistle on street
corners also acted as lookouts to warn those enjoying themselves in the
illegal drinking dens of the arrival of the police.
Playing Through Repression
Jazz was played in South Africa during the years of severe repression. The
1980s saw the appearance of Afro-jazz bands such as Sakhile and Bayete,
marrying the sounds of American fusion and ancient African patterns, to
considerable commercial success.
25
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
New Directions
Others, such as the band Tananas, took the idea of instrumental music into the
direction of what became known as "world music", creating a sound that crosses
borders with a mix of African, South American and other styles; this versatile
and inventive group is now one of South Africa's best-loved, and least easy to
categorise.
As the 1970s drew to a close, however, the mood began to change, and the
echoes of Britain's angry working-class punk movement began to reach South
Africa.
Springs, a poorer white area on the outskirts of Johannesburg, proved to be
the breeding ground of a new generation of rockers - rockers as unimpressed by
the commercial blandishments of the mainstream industry as they were
disillusioned about South Africa's repressive white regime.
Bubblegum to Kwaito
While white rockers expressed their angst to largely white audiences during
the 1980s, the black townships were held in thrall by what came to be called
"bubblegum" - bright, light dance pop influenced by American disco as much as
by the heritage of mbaqanga.
Forebears of this style were groups such as The Soul Brothers, who had massive
hits with their soulful pop, while artists such as Brenda Fassie, Chicco Twala
and Yvonne Chaka Chaka drew huge audiences for their brand of township dance
music.
Kwaito
In the 1990s, a new style of township music grabbed the attention and the
hearts of South Africa's black youth. That music was kwaito, probably now the
26
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
biggest force in the South African music scene. Just as township "bubblegum"
had drawn on American disco, so kwaito put an African spin on the
international dance music of the 1990s, a genre loosely referred to as house
music.
Miriam Makeba is beyond dispute one of South Africa's true legends and the
first African singer to win a Grammy Award. She was born in 1932 in
Johannesburg, and was only 21 years old when she began performing with the
Manhattan Brothers. It didn't take long before Miriam Makeba's career was
brought to another level; in 1959 she received a Grammy Award for the album
An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba. Her fame increased when
she released her international hit Pata Pata.
Makeba used her voice to entertain, but also to give a voice to millions of
oppressed fellow South Africans who suffered as a result of the Apartheid.
The price she had to pay for her actions was high, namely her South African
citizenship. After she appeared in an anti-Apartheid documentary in 1960,
the South African government banned her from returning to her home country
and took away her citizenship. The event didn't stop Mama Africa from
raising her voice against the Apartheid regime. Between 1964 and 1975, as a
United Nations delegate of Guinea where she was granted asylum, Miriam
Makeba addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regularly on
what was happening in South Africa.
Meanwhile she carried on singing, a process in which she put South African
music on the map. Over the years Makeba worked with artists as Joe Sample,
Stix Hooper, Arthur Adams, and David T. Walker of the Crusaders. In the
late 1980's Miriam Makeba joined Paul Simon and South Africa's Ladysmith
27
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Audio Links – it is possible to download or buy the music mentioned in this
pack from the following websites:
http://www.abdullahibrahim.com/start.html
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,464168,00.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/onyourstreet/msdave3.shtml
http://www.cmgworldwide.com/music/parker/
http://www.nutsie.com/music/Ladysmith%20Black%20Mambazo
http://www.3rdearmusic.com/order.html
7. MUSIC IN THE YOUNG VIC’S PRODUCTION OF THE MAGIC FLUTE
The Marimba
The term marimba is applied to various traditional folk instruments, the
precursors of which may have developed independently in West Africa (the
balafon) and in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
28
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family and is used
extensively in The Magic Flute. Keys or bars are struck with mallets to
produce musical tones. The keys are arranged like those of a piano, with the
accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the
performer both visually and physically.
Marimba bars, like xylophone bars, are usually made of rosewood, but bars can
also be made of padouk (a type of wood) or various synthetic materials.
Rosewood bars are preferred for concert playing, but synthetic bars are
preferred for marching band use because they are more durable. The bars are
wider and longer at the lowest pitched notes, and gradually get thinner and
shorter as the notes get higher. During the tuning process, wood is taken from
the middle underside of the bar to lower the pitch. Because of this, the bars
are also thinner near the bottom and thicker near the top.
Modern marimba music calls for simultaneous use of between two and four
mallets (sometimes up to six), granting the performer the ability to play
chords or music with large interval skips more easily. Multiple mallets are
held in the same hand using any of a number of techniques or grips.
29
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Other Instruments in the Production
The trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family that is used in The
Magic Flute instead of a flute.
(For the reasons why see Section 13, the
interview with Mandisi Dyantis.)
The trumpet has the highest register in the brass section. The most common
trumpet by far is a transposing instrument pitched in B flat but there are
many other trumpets in this family of instruments.
One of the pieces of music – that represents Papageno’s magic bells, is played
using a number of milk bottles filled with various amounts of water to get
different keys.
In principle it works in the same way as the Marimba.
Steel drums are used to create moments of tension or unease. These steel drums
are not like steel pans which are shaped to get specific notes, but instead
create a totally random sound.
Also throughout the performance the cast help create the wonderful atmosphere
through oral sound effects, stamping and singing.
30
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
8. SYNOPSIS
Tamino, a Prince from a distant country, is saved from a monster by three
servants of the Queen of the Night.
They ask him to rescue the Queen’s
daughter Pamina. He is joined by the bird-catcher Papageno. Three Spirits
appear to guide them on their journey.
The Queen tells Tamino that Pamina has been kidnapped by Sarastro who wants to
bring her up according to his evil beliefs. She gives Tamino a magic flute to
play in times of danger. Papageno is given magic bells.
Tamino and Papageno find Sarastro. They discover he is a good man who has
protected Pamina from her wicked mother. Tamino and Pamina fall in love.
Papageno wishes he too could find someone to love - a Papagena.
Sarastro promises the young couple happiness and power if they undergo three
trials: the trial of silence, of fire and of water.
The Queen orders Pamina to kill Sarastro.
is not allowed to talk.
Pamina wants to tell Tamino but he
Believing he no longer loves her, Pamina tries to
kill herself but is saved by the three Spirits.
Pamina decides to join Tamino in his trials, proving that women are equal to
men. Playing the magic flute protects them.
The Queen of the Night attacks Sarastro but is defeated.
the darkness.
Sarastro drives away
Day dawns.
You can find a recording of The Magic Flute at:
http://www.sfopera.com/opera.asp?o=254
31
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
9. CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Tamino – A young Prince who is convinced to help the Queen of the Night rescue
her daughter.
Tamino
Three Spirits – Spirits who help Tamino escape from the serpent.
They all
work for the Queen of the Night.
Papageno – A bird catcher who helps (and sometimes hinders) Tamino on his
journey.
Papageno
32
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Queen of the Night – A wicked queen with magical powers and mother of Pamina.
Queen on the Night
Sarastro – The father of Pamina.
Sarastro
Pamina – Daughter of the Queen of the Night and Sarastro.
33
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Pamina
Three More Spirits – Three more spirits who help Papageno find Pamina.
Monostatos – An evil servant of Sarastro who wants to marry Pamina.
Two Priests – The priests convince Tamino that Sarestro is a good and wise
man.
Papagena – Papageno’s love interest.
Papagena and Papageno
34
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
10. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
CAST
Tamino
Mhlekazi Andy Mosiea
1st Spirit
Bongiwe Mapassa
2nd Spirit
Lungelwa Mdekazi
3rd Spirit
Tembisa Mlanjeni
Papageno
Zamile Gantana
Queen of the Night
Pauline Malefane
1st Spirit
Busisiwe Ngejane
2nd Spirit
Poseletso Sejosingoe
3rd Spirit
Nolunthando Boqwana
Monostatos
Mzwandile C Kambule / Malungisa Balintulo
Pamina
Philisa Sibeko
Priest
Zebulon K Mmusi
Sarastro
Simphiwe Mayeki
Priest
Luthando Mthi
Papagena / Spirit / Comrade
Thozamo Mdliva
Comrade
Sonwabo Ntshata
Comrade
Sibusiso Matshikiza
Comrade
Fikile Thani
35
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Conductor / Comrade
Mandisi Dyantyis
Comrade
Clyde Berning
Comrade
Malungisa Balintulo / Mzwandile C Kambule
Comrade
Luvo Rasemeni
Comrade
Xolani Momo
Comrade
Khanyiso Gwenxane
Comrade
Nolufefe Mtshabe
Spirit / Comrade
Siyanda Ncobo
Spirit / Comrade
Asanda Ndlwana
Spirit / Comrade
Mbali Kgosidintsi
Spirit / Comrade
Zanele Gracious Mbatha
Spirit / Comrade
Thomakazi Holland
CREATIVE TEAM
Director
Mark Dornford-May
Words and Music
Mandisi Dyantis, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Pauline
Malefane, Nolufefe Mtshabe
Designer
Dan Watkins
Choreographer
Lungelo Ngamlana
Lighting Designer
Mannie Manim
Costume Designer
Leigh Bishop, Annamarie Seegers
Assistant Directors
Gbolahan Obisesan, Simelia Hodge-Dallaway
Music Coach
Albert Combrink
Voice Coach
Lesley Manim
36
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
11. INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LAN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE YOUNG VIC
What is the history of Isango and how did these two shows come about?
The history of Isango starts with Mark Dornford-May. Mark had for many years
ran Broomhill Opera based at Wilton’s Music Hall in east London. In about
2000, he was invited to do a show near Spier, outside Cape Town, in a theatre
a wealthy South African businessman built. Mark put a company together out in
South Africa called Dimpho Di Kopane (DDK) with Charles Hazlewood, a young
British conductor, as his music director, and put on The Mysteries. It was a
hugely successful show both in South Africa and when it came first to Wilton’s
Music Hall and then the Queen’s Theatre in the West End. It went on to tour
internationally.
After this, Mark decided he was going to live and work in South Africa, and
married Pauline Malefane [uScrooge and Queen of the Night]. Until 2007, Mark
directed DDK – which means ‘bringing together of talents’ – producing The
Beggar’s Opera, Westside Story, The Snow Queen and then Carmen. Both The
Beggar’s Opera and Carmen came to Wiltons, and Carmen was also made into a film
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha which won the Golden Bear for Best Film in the Berlin
Film Festival. He then went on to do another film, The Son of Man based on The
Mysteries.
It was around about this time – in 2005 - that Mark and I met for the first
time. We decided that the Young Vic and DDK should do a co-production that
would play in South Africa and in London. The original idea was that the show
would tour around Africa, but then the financer who had been backing DDK
suddenly withdrew his support. He had got a taste of the film world and wanted
to continue to work in that area. This was a pretty bleak time for Mark and
DDK as without financial backing the company were unable to continue working.
However, I was able to bring Eric Abraham [Portobello Productions] and Mark
together. It was agreed that Eric would pick up the finances of the company
37
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
but under a new name – Isango, which means ‘the people’. Many of the same core
artists were still involved, such as Pauline, Nolufefe Mtshabe, Zamile Gantana
and Charles Hazlewood. Mark also held new auditions all over South Africa
recruiting for the new company. The company consists of a mixture of people
who have training and experience, such as Pauline, Nolufefe and Zamile, and
many who have no or little training. Half of the company have never been on
stage before until these two productions of A Christmas Carol and The Magic
Flute.
Mark and I came up with the idea of The Magic Flute but soon realised that due
to the physical strain of opera, it would only be possible to do four
performances a week, so we would either have to create two companies who would
share the performances or create two shows. Eric suggested the idea of doing a
Dickens’ novel and Mark and I hit upon A Christmas Carol and discussed how we
would be able to make such a classic work of Western literature South African.
Mark then recruited a young South African music director, Mandisi Dyantis, for
both shows, anticipating that Charles Hazlewood would be the main musical
director. But due to Charles’ work and personal commitments in England, he was
unable to commit. Mandisi, therefore, became the overall musical director.
Rehearsals started and we haven’t looked back since!
How does Isango compare to other South African theatre companies?
It is unique.
On the one side, there are various state opera companies, which are beginning
to recruit their singers and musicians from all the communities in South
Africa, but they are old fashioned theatres, producing standard Western
repertoire. On the other hand, there are the commercial South African exports,
such as the Soweto Gospel Choir, which although very good, are commercial
enterprises for an already existing market.
38
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The whole point of Isango as a company is the creative people in it – they are
always developing and creating very bold work and taking risks. An example of
that is our co-production of The Magic Flute – Mark was adamant that the
company should learn the whole of the overture, even though most of them could
neither read music nor play the marimbas, so that the audience knew that this
was not a gimmick – it was not about how clever it is to play Mozart on
marimbas – but that we were being serious in our adaptation. Good music is
good music after all.
39
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
12. INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR, MARK DORNFORD-MAY
What was the process of getting from the original opera of The Magic Flute to
the performance at the Young Vic?
I listened to every recording and every DVD ever made of the opera, and read
through the score many times. We also had a literal English translation done
of the German text so we really knew the story.
Then myself and four of the company worked on the piece – we knocked together
a structure. Time was always going to be an issue with learning and rehearsing
this piece – people had to learn marimbas from scratch! – that it meant we
made very strong decisions quite early on about what we were going to cut from
the original, and what we were going to shape. Unlike The Christmas Carol, we
found this easier as The Magic Flute was originally written for the stage.
How does the process of directing an opera differ from directing straight
theatre?
You have to be aware of the music at all times. In opera, the music provides
the emotional handle for the piece – for example, if the music is sad, as a
director you must be careful to reflect this while not over-sentimentalising
the scene as the music tells so much of the emotion already. The important
thing to know about this production is that we haven’t changed the notes – it
is still Mozart. We have just adapted the style and applied a different set of
rules to it.
What was the biggest challenge you had to deal with?
Scoring the orchestral parts to marimbas! And finding ways of changing the
musical landscape without diminishing the original. We were very keen not to
dumb down, or be seen to dumb down.
Did you combine European and African theatre styles when creating the pieces
or lean towards one of them?
40
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
It is definitely a combination. I’m British, but the whole company is South
African; the choreography is South African but the staging is more European.
It is all very mixed up, and ultimately, so is the music in both productions.
What was the process of choosing when and where to include the various
languages?
The main consideration was where we were going to be performing the
productions – both in South Africa and in London. Also, another language can
make a piece stronger as it is only one element of story telling. When we
watch theatre, we are also watching the set, body language and so on –
sometimes another language can make us really focus on those other aspects of
storytelling to understand what is going on.
There were also some practical considerations too – only one member of the
company has English as a first language. In The Magic Flute we started the
rehearsals by singing in English and speaking the dialogue in Xhosa until
people felt more comfortable.
The piece starts with the actors on stage whilst the audience enter. What was
the reason behind that?
There were two reasons. Firstly, it is for the actors to feel like they are
part of the space that the audience are coming into. They can feel the
audience before they start performing – it makes the audience a little less
threatening! Also, for the audience it shows them that we are telling a story.
The audience sees the actor first before seeing the character they play.
What are the difficulties in directing two productions at once?
Time! There are just many, many things to remember and to tackle. You get
involved in one of the productions for a while, and in the meantime you forget
what you have just worked on in the other one. It would have been impossible
if we didn’t have the same company of actors, as the two productions are very
different in style. The singing in particular, is very different – operatic in
The Magic Flute and traditional South African in A Christmas Carol.
41
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
13. INTERVIEW WITH MBALI KGOSIDINTSI, ACTRESS AND CO-WRITER OF THE
MAGIC FLUTE
What was your process of rehearsing for The Magic Flute?
It was really interesting as I don’t come from a musical background.
script helped me to connect with the piece.
The
The music was lovely and again
that helped tell the story so it made it much easier to get to grips with what
was going on.
The story has so many layers and it was really interesting to
delve into them.
Did you find anything challenging?
Everything! I had to learn how to play the marimbas which was really
fulfilling and helped bring the African flavour to the piece. I also had to
get to grips with the various layers in the piece.
What is your favourite scene in the performance?
There are so many. I suppose my favourite is the ritual before the second and
third trial. The look of it really reminds me of home.
What are the challenges of performing in two different pieces at once?
At first I was really worried about it. I was concerned that I would forget my
lines but I have found it great. It keeps the piece fresh. On a long tour you
find you stop worrying about your lines and the play can get stale. Working on
two pieces means I am constantly thinking about what I am doing and so brings
the play a great energy.
Has the play changed much from when it was performed in South Africa?
Yes! It changes everyday. Mark [Dornford-May, the director] changes a lot but
we have got used to it now. He is always making it better and more
interesting. It also helps keep it alive and fresh. It also means our family
and friends can see it over and over and not get bored.
42
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Has the reaction in South African and British audiences been different to the
production?
Definitely. In Cape Town, people from the Townships connect very closely;
other South Africans connect on a different level altogether. In London, the
audiences know the story and as a result are looking at the style and
presentation rather that what it is about. They end up getting a new idea of
the story which shocks them which is good. There has been great appreciation
everywhere though.
43
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
14. INTERVIEW WITH MUSIC DIRECTOR, MANDISI DYANTYIS
How did you get from a full classical opera score to a performance that only
uses voice, a trumpet, household objects and marimbas?
The first thing I did was say YES!
Then I thought about the problems. I knew
it could be done because music is music is music. I spent lots of time by
myself playing on the marimbas to get the tune and melody in my head. I then
started building this into basic sections that I could then teach the cast.
Many of them had never played marimbas before, so we spent a long time getting
it right. We took five days just for the overture! Lots of the cast were
scared but once they learnt it they were really pleased with the results. It
has made a great sound – I’m really pleased. We had lots of luck but the cast
really threw themselves into it and all the hard work shows. Most importantly
you have to realise that Mozart wrote beautiful melodies, therefore you can do
anything underneath it and still keep its integrity. The music is made up of
melody, harmony and rhythms – we always kept one of these as Mozart’s original
and then put our own ideas over or under it.
What quality does this bring to the opera?
I wanted it to sound as South African as possible. I had lots of ideas but
wasn’t sure if they would work. I wanted the audience to hear the Mozart as
well as the South African influences. It was difficult to get the balance; we
were going too far one way or the other. In the end, the music lent itself
really well to the process and I feel we have the South African feel that we
were looking for.
What was the biggest challenge you had to deal with?
The flute and the bells. The flute became a trumpet which I resisted for a
long time as I knew I would have to play it, but in the end it made a really
good sound so it worked out well. The other problem was the bells that are
used for Papageno’s gift. We ended up using milk bottles with various amounts
of water that have the same effect. As before we had to train the cast in
44
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
using these instruments and it took time but again I think the result is
great.
Did you combine European and African musical styles when creating the pieces
or lean towards one of them?
My training was originally classical, and then I moved onto jazz before
joining an African band - these influences are brought out in the piece.
Obviously it has a South African sound, but I have drawn on all my training
and playing of instruments in creating the music.
Does it sound how you imagined it would?
Not completely. Originally, I asked for 30 trained musicians to play but we
ended up getting the cast to play instead. This has brought an amazing quality
to the piece and now that they are getting more confident they are happy to
experiment and try new ideas so the piece is changing all the time which is
great.
45
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
15. MOZART AND DICKENS TOWNSHIP STYLE - ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN BY
KWAME KWEI-ARMAH
Mark Dornford-May’s 2005 film adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, called U-Carmen
eKhayelitsha, was set in South Africa’s largest township, with a cast made up
of local talent. I was immediately struck by the authenticity of his
treatment. The bleakness of the environment, juxtaposed against the joyous
brilliance of his cast, made me stamp with joy throughout many an aria.
Two years later, I received an invitation from the Young Vic’s artistic
director, David Lan, to visit Cape Town to peep into the rehearsals of
Dornford-May’s latest works: Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Dickens’ A Christmas
Carol, adapted for his company of young black performers from the hinterland
of Khayelitsha. The plays were scheduled to open at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre
before moving to London. I was a little wary of the invitation. I knew Lan
vaguely and had read somewhere that he was South African. Two hyphenated
artists – Dornford-May white African, and me black-British – on African soil
had all the ingredients of a weekend filled with self-validation and guiltalleviation on both sides.
The second, and probably more profound, reason for my wariness is my
scepticism about the concept of black ‘versions’ of white European classics.
Even the most innovative adaptations run the risk of shoring up notions of
European literary superiority – how often do you see white versions of black
classics? Yes, images of South African blacks dressed in European breeches
singing in a fashion I perceived to be ‘received’ filled me with dread. Why
not perform the South African dramatic narratives from the grand tradition of
the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, I asked myself – the new Woza Albert!, the
new Sizwe Bansi is Dead, or the Athol Fugard classics. The narratives that are
exported from South Africa of late all seem to be musically based. Despite my
scepticism, however, I decided to go.
46
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The first person I spoke to was the producer Mannie Manim, now artistic
director of Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre. Back in 1974, he created Market
Theatre with playwright/director Barney Simon. This was an astonishing company
committed to non-racial theatre – no mean feat during the heat of the
apartheid years. It was incredible to hear him recite the history of the
company, from the discovery of the old listed building in the ‘Indian Market’,
to finding the legal loopholes that allowed integrated audiences and
performers to work under one roof, to the excitement and fear of creating
narratives that challenged the personal and the political.
But when I asked Manim my question about why the South African theatre that is
exported seems to have lost its dramatic edge, his response was very
interesting. Although he acknowledged that fine dramatic work was once again
beginning to emerge, finding audiences for those types of narratives was
difficult. Cape Town audiences in particular, he said, were still quite
tribal. White audiences go to see European classics; ‘coloured’ audiences got
to see narratives that reflect their interests and specific culture; and
blacks – well, it was hard to get them into the theatre, full stop. He did
say, however, that a great black play somehow united all the audiences.
What he didn’t say, but what I began to get a sense of, was that many South
African artists felt that the end of apartheid had taken the fight out of a
generation of writers. With no big bad wolf no longer there, what was there to
talk about? The demise of opposition had somehow contributed to the demise of
a grand theatrical tradition, one with its roots in the work of Herbery Dhlomo
(the first South African playwright to be published in English back in the
1930s). All the same, I came away with a list of new and exciting playwrights:
Lesego Rampolokeng, Xoli Norman, Mondi Mayepu, Heinrich Reisenhofer and Oscar
Petersen, Fiona Coyne, Mark Lottering, Nazli George, Craig Freimond, and
Rajesh Gopie to name a few.
My next stop, the rehearsal hall, was a little way out of town and I arrived
just as a few company members were returning from lunch. Two gangs had been
shooting at each other across the street, something these people were all very
47
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
used to, so it was a source of much hilarity. Not a great place to create art,
I thought. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Once they started rehearsing a
section from The Magic Flute, I was transported to a place far beyond the
reach of such trivial matters as gang gunfights.
Pauline Malefane, the singer who starred as Carmen in Dornford-May’s film, was
singing the part of the Queen of the Night. Now, I don’t know my opera theory
terribly well, but I know enough to recognise that Carmen is an alto and the
Queen of the Night is a soprano. The same voice is not meant to be able to
sing both parts. But there she was, hitting the top F with ease and beauty.
Then there was the young singer Mhlekazi Andy Mosiea, playing Prince Tamino.
Dressed in his trendy baggy jeans and hoodie, he looked like the R&B singer
Usher – only he wasn’t singing the popular music of his day, but that of
Mozart’s.
Here's the thing, though - not only about Mosiea, but the entire cast: they
sang the score in a fashion that was unique. It met all classical
requirements, but added something extra: something distinctly black South
African, something soulful. These were not young people imitating the genre;
they were singing opera on their own terms. This terrific authenticity was
aided by an orchestra made up exclusively of marimbas.
I asked Dornford-May why he chose to leave his native England to work in South
Africa, and his reply couldn't have come more quickly: the talent. He
explained why Pauline could sing both Carmen and the Queen of the Night, and
why he could have open auditions in Khayelitsha and discover all these
wonderful young singers: it was because of the strong choral traditions of the
black South African churches. Many of these performers had been to classical
colleges, but only after years of rigorous church choir training.
Any notion I had that this would be another blacking-up of a European
narrative to serve notions of superiority was disabused. In this The Magic
48
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Flute, the story has been transposed to the ritual that young Xhosa boys go
through when they come of age.
But my biggest learning curve was my relationship with David Lan. It was
fascinating to have a white African honestly introduce me to his homeland. I
had been to South Africa before, but never had I seen it through Caucasian
diasporic eyes. He took me to the rich and predominately white parts of Cape
Town, followed by a visit to the townships upon whose shoulders the wealthy
white community stands, but whose poverty is sometimes beyond belief. It was
then that I saw the real magic in that rehearsal room: the ability of art to
separate circumstance from artistic excellence.
I cannot explain the level of poverty, nor the pain I felt upon seeing it and
realising that many of the artists I had just been applauding slept on
concrete floors. Many were looking after sick or dying members of their
families, before and after gruelling rehearsals. Many lived in dwellings made
of corrugated iron, which freeze in the winter and boil in the summer. None of
that was present in the rehearsal room, or evident in their wonderful voices.
Instead, I saw a company of performers who were giving their all in the
pursuit of dramatic truth.
My only hope is that in a world where the reputed No 1 R&B singer is Justin
Timberlake, and the reputed finest rapper is Eminem, maybe the time is
approaching when the world's finest opera singer will come out of a South
African township such as Khayelitsha. And maybe by then the horrors of many of
their kinsmen's existence will also be a thing of the past.
49
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
16. MOZART FROM THE TOWNSHIP - ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT BY DAVID LAN
I am the artistic director of London's Young Vic theatre, but I am in Athlone,
a suburb of Cape Town, in a church hall just off the Klipfontein Road. This is
one of the classic apartheid-era urban highways, built wide and straight to
get tanks into the townships quickly to quell uprisings. But now is a time of
peace, and it's a work of peace that is going on here: rehearsals for a new
production of The Magic Flute.
It's a production with a difference. For a start, there's no orchestra. The
singers are accompanied only by marimbas, and Mandisi Dyantyis, a slight 25year-old, is coaching the players – "Let's go, two, three, four" – slipping
between speaking Xhosa and English. The director, Mark Dornford-May, in search
of a musical director, heard about him at the church that his wife, Pauline
Malefane, attends – "we know a guy who knows a guy who knows something about
music..." And here Dyantyis is, fresh out of music school, recreating bar by
bar the original orchestral parts for eight marimbas, a pair each of soprano,
alto, baritone, and bass.
They're at work on the overture. Malefane pounds away stylishly at the bass
marimba. She also sings the Queen of the Night, and plays a female Scrooge in,
A Christmas Carol, which the Young Vic is also co-producing and bringing to
London for Christmas. She sang Carmen for her husband on stage and in his film
UCarmen eKhayelitsha (which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival).
She has just been named Best Actress at the South African film awards for her
part in Son of Man, Dornford-May's second film, based on his hit production
The Mysteries which transferred from Wilton's Music Hall to the West End and
then to Broadway. She is an extremely well-known South African musician but,
before these rehearsals, she could play the marimba no better than any of the
others in the 30-strong company.
Recruited from all over South Africa, they are distinguished by two things:
musical talent and poverty. Dornford-May auditioned more than 1,500 – and how
50
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
hard it is to say "no", time after time, when the probable consequence is that
their families won't eat. We calculate that three hundred people are dependent
on the money that this company earns. Rehearsals end an hour before sunset to
allow time to return home to the townships – mostly Khayelitsha, one of the
biggest in South Africa. The streets are poorly lit and darkness brings
danger.
Dyantyis raises his baton. They play. It's extraordinary. It's Mozart alright,
but forget Vienna and sachertorte, and think sunlight dappling the sea.
Simon Rattle, on holiday in Cape Town, heard a performance and was bowled
over. He gave us a quote: "Mozart would have been surprised and then
delighted." And that's exactly right. It takes a moment to adjust, and then
you get it, and you grin. It's gorgeous, touching, slightly rough, slightly
jokey, as though the score is being made love to and ever so gently sent up.
And then you have to ask yourself: "Why am I in tears?"
They finish to whoops of pleasure. And then Dornford-May's second inspiration.
So far they've learnt only the first part of the overture – about two and half
of the total six minutes. "Great, guys", he says, "now let's learn the whole
thing.
In performance at the Baxter Theatre an odd thing happens. They play the first
section of the overture and the audience is rapt. They reach the climax, it
sounds as though it's over, and the audience applauds. But, cutting through
the applause, they play on. And the audience, thrown off-balance, suddenly
understands: this is not a gag or a pastiche. There is no orchestra, no
expensive sets or costumes, but it's serious. For now the music gets much more
difficult and the musicians need real skill to carry off its elegant, bouncy,
heartbreaking delicacy. Can they sustain it? They can! Prolonged applause, and
the audience settles down for a remarkable recreation of this supreme work of
music theatre.
51
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
What is also serious is this company's potential. Some members of the Isango
Portobello company, with whom we are co-producing the show, are universitytrained, while others have had most of their experience in church choirs.
There are pros and cons in both. The trained voices can sing the more
demanding parts but, often, with their training, come artificial stage habits
which have to go.
Dornford-May's luck has been to find generous backing from Eric Abraham's
Portobello Productions, while his genius is to find the perfect context in
which all the company can shine.
Our Christmas Carol begins in the shaft of a gold mine where Marley's ghost
possesses Tiny Tim – or, in our case, Tiny Thembi – to warn Mrs Scrooge, the
new mine-owner, not to allow her wealth to isolate her from her moral
community. In our Magic Flute Sarastro is a Mandela-like leader who struggles
to reconcile the Queen of the Night to the new realities born of the love
between her daughter Pamina and the foreign-born Tamino.
In these productions the performers speak about their own lives but they hold
our hands with such a light touch that you feel closely in contact with
Dickens's London and Mozart's Masonic fairy tale at the same time.
The well-reported tragedies of South Africa – the health crisis, above all –
mask a simpler dilemma. It's false, I believe, to think of talent as bedded
into the DNA, as a force that will realise itself come what may. Talent is a
relationship – with a parent, a friend, a teacher. Four of the strongest
singers in the company owe their careers to Nolufefe Mtshabe, an inspired
choir-leader, who spotted them when they were young. But where are all the
other teachers, companies, schools, and well-wishers needed to create the
hundreds of thousands of relationships to activate the tremendous creativity
there could be?
At the Young Vic we have many ways of working with the people who surround us.
In shows such as Tobias and the Angel we put our neighbours on our stage
52
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
alongside a company of leading singers and musicians, each group enhancing
each others' pleasure, and that of their audience. Living as we do in a world
city, intimately and powerfully connected in one way or another to virtually
every other community, we feel that to make shows for London we have to
engage, in our own tiny way, with "others" in "other places". Hence, for a
start, these two shows with these brilliant South Africans in whose company
whom we learn each day something new about what it is to be human.
Back to the church hall in Athlone. They're approaching the end of the opera:
"The sun has arisen/ Goodbye to the night/ The whole world is shining/ In
glorious light". Then comes the joyous final chorus. I dial the Young Vic and
hold out my mobile phone so they can hear: "Listen to this. Just listen to
bloody this..."
53
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
17. ASSISTANT DIRECTORS’ REHEARSAL DIARY
Gbolahan Obisesan and Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway - two young directors on the
Young Vic’s Genesis Directors Network – went out to Cape Town in July 2007 as
assistant directors to Mark Dornford-May on the two productions A Christmas
Carol and The Magic Flute. Rehearsals took place in the Athlone district of
Cape Town at the Methodist Church.
Week One
When we arrived in South Africa some members of the company had already taken
part in workshops to explore musical ideas and script development.
But the
first day of rehearsals was the first time that the full company had got
together to begin work on this very ambitious adaptation of both The Magic
Flute and A Christmas Carol (although the script of this was still in the
process of being completed).
Mark Donford-May the director led a sing-through with marimba accompaniment
with the principle characters of The Magic Flute – mainly Tamino, Pamina,
Queen of the Night Sarastro, Papageno and Papagena. The rest of the company
spent time learning various sections of the individual arias and the very
intricate notes of the opening overture.
Whilst all of the cast are extremely talented singers a limited number werer
able to read music.
Consequently Music Director Mandisi Dyantyis had
transposed the whole score of the opera into tonic sol-fa – a mamouth
undertaking.
Tonic sol-fa is a method of teaching sight-singing – ie without
written musical notation. Every tone is given a name according to its
relationship with other tones in the key: the usual notation is replaced with
anglicized solfege syllables do, reh, me, fa, so, la, te, do.
Many of the performers, although familiar with the musical version of Mozart’s
The Magic Flute, were finding it difficult to sing their arias with the music
54
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
played on the marimbas.
Given the pressure of time Mark planned to run all
the music in the first act of The Magic Flute by the Saturday of the first
week.
This added to the actors’ challenge and level of pressure.
Through the week the cast worked incredibly hard with many sessions outside of
the regular 10am – 6pm rehearsals for extra coaching and cramming.
On
Saturday the sing through of the first act of The Magic Flute lasted about 45
minutes.
There were a few tricky moments and we have yet to resolve some
musical parts, namely the unique sound of the magic flute and Papageno’s
bells.
Week Two
We followed on from where we left off the previous week. Mark now set about
ensuring the company would be able to sing through the second act of The Magic
Flute with all the musical accompaniment. I continued to work closely with
Zamile, now rehearsing his arias, dialogue and intentions for clarity and
understanding. Simeilia (the other assistant director) worked with the three
spirits on clarity and intention, especially in the scene in which Pamina
thinks she has been jilted by Tamino, the young man she loves, and tries to
commit suicide. Most of our rehearsal time was shared with Mandisi’s marimba
classes which either required a principle individual to play a marimba section
for one of the many arias or to rehearse the March of the Priest which opens
the second act of The Magic Flute.
By the Saturday everyone, although slightly nervous as to what Mark was going
to make of their performance and still not totally musically secure, was
prepared for the run through of the second act.
Only a few performers were
still referring to their music score for words and notes. After a somewhat
shakey run through of the music in the second act Mark emphasised that each
individual, including the marimba players, are important in the telling of the
story. The audience must have a clear understanding of the story that is being
played out in front of them and if they do not understand an aspect of the
55
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
piece, it compromises the integrity of the work that everyone has invested
into bringing to life and putting on stage.
Week Three
Mark was concerned that some of the scenes with dialogue scenes were too long
or were being performed too slowly to sustain the audience’s concentration. He
suggested that they should be cut down to pin point the necessary information
within the scene.
So we looked at what information was vital – whether names
or dialogue detailing plot themes – and just kept what needed to be stressed
in order for the audience to follow the story. This work was extended to
working with the actors delivering these lines to ensure clarity.
We also asked some of the Xhosa, tSwana and English speaking performers and
collaborative writers - Pauline Malefane, Mbali Kgosidintsi and Zamile - to
translate the text into fitting words and appropriate dialogue to enhance
character interaction and audience understanding.
Simeilia and I really relished the opportunity to express our thoughts on
specific scenes. We talked about how we could change the writing in a scene or
the rhyme in an aria to help an actor play the scene with stronger intentions
or sing with more feeling by using more active verbs. We slowly worked through
the list of problem scenes, words and rhymes that Mark felt were ineffective
or overstated. By the end of the week, we proposed our newly restructured
scene solutions and plot queries, (such as how to refer to Sarastro and his
followers), to Mark for confirmation.
Week Four
This week David Lan, the Artistic Director of the Young Vic, visited
rehearsals.
David had commissioned Isango/Portobello productions to put the
shows together and bring them to the Younc Vic for this Christmas. David Lan
had also been involved in the early ideas behind a South African version of
The Magic Flute and had also collaborated in writing some of the libretto
(words) for the music.
The main reason for David’s visit was to see how the
pieces were progressing, but David was soon became involved in finding
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
alternative wordings to specific rhymes and placement of some of the more
complicated narrative plots. David, along with Pauline and Mark, worked
specifically on rewriting Tamino’s love aria so that the words became more
affectionate and gave the character and the actor Mhlekazi the feeling of
being unsure about the consequences of expressing Tamino’s emotions for
Pamina.
Mark was keen for The Magic Flute to have an authentic South African musical
identity so he started working on incorporating a more earthy African sound by
devising the music made by the men in Sarastro’s camp in Act Two.
He wanted
to give the music a sense of African folk and ritual tradition. Mandisi also
worked on layering the Motown style of the Three Spirits and the duet between
Pamina and Papageno. By now Simeilia and I realised that with a project so
large it is difficult to oversee all the detail, so Mark would ask us either
to watch the performers for emotional commitment in their performance, or
clarity and understanding in the delivery of words. Although some of the
company had had a formal musical education at the University of Cape Town,
only a handful have had previous acting experience. Having not had any
previous experience of the operatic style of music and language of
performance, our ears quickly adjusted and our eyes searched for meaning and
understanding in any tiny moment made by an ensemble performer or one of the
principle actors.
Week Five
We were still waiting for the revised third draft of A Christmas Carol
translated as Ikrismesi Kherol in Xhosa. We endeavoured to carry on working
through The Magic Flute, which was now being split into marimba calls and
specific scene calls to be loosely staged and blocked.
This was done in such
a way so that each dialogue scene and each classical musical number was
roughly linked to the last so the performers could start creating a journey
for their characters throughout the piece. Mark by now had also started
working on the set pieces within The Magic Flute, in which the company would
rehearse and block major movement in the big ensemble scenes. The
57
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
choreographer, Lungelo Ngamlana, was constantly at hand to work with
performers on creating a dance, or some accompanying movement for a particular
moment that demanded chorus participation. The cast were fitted for the
prototypes of their costumes, and measured for new costume requirements. Mark
was still undecided about how the Queen of the Night was to be dressed, and it
was this week that we discovered what the three ladies – the Queen of the
Night’s attendants - looked like in soldiers’ uniforms [although this has
since been changed]. It was also decided that Sarastro’s traditional African
garment needed to be more lavish and commanding.
As time loomed on we did a sing through of Act One and Act Two.
We received
the rest of the new words for the from David Lan, which were promptly
distributed to the singers concerned so they could begin to learn them before
the run at the end of the week. Mark and Mandisi had also decided that the
sound of Papageno’s magic bells should be played on wine bottles filled with
water. At this stage, they had also decided that the sound of the magic flute
should be created on a clarinet.
Throughout this week, rehearsals proved somewhat difficult, as for a few days
local gangsters cut the power lines to our rehearsal hall, leaving the cast in
the dark, bleak cold of the South African winter with only the dim
illuminating glow of candle light.
Rehearsals were stopped earlier than
normal for the health and safety of the company. By the Saturday, the
electricity was back to normal and we ended the week with a slow but
meticulous sing through of Act One and Two of The Magic Flute.
At this stage
we were very behind our original production schedule.
Week Six
The third draft of A Christmas Carol script was now ready and we read through
it with Mark in advance of distributing it to the company. Pauline, Mbali,
Mandisi, Nolufefe and Mark all read while we listened to this new South
Africanised adaptation.
We were excited by the wealth of difference in the
story and themes that both of us had been quite familiar with. The story had
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
been changed dramatically to suit and reflect a more South African context but
still retained most of the universal elements that make the story such a
classic morality tale. The character of Scrooge was now called uScrooge, a
female business women, who is an executive director at a gold mine in
Johannesburg. Tiny Tim was now a girl called Tiny Thembi and although ill has
the gift of a beautiful voice.
She would be possessed by the Ghost of Marley
to warn uScrooge to change her ways. The three ghosts were now also female and
the first ghost would use film to transport uScrooge back to her youth. The
script seemed like a gift and seemed to need limited changes.
We began to look at creating a sound-scape for the film by starting with the
idea of a Sergio Leone classic western, in which the atmosphere is created
with the sound of tumble weed blowing down the street and swing doors opening.
We wanted to explore how accurately we could evoke real sounds by using
percussive material and how vocal music and sound could set the mood for the
scene being played out on stage.
Putting these ideas to one side, we then began to explore the sound that could
accompany the possession of Tiny Thembi by the Ghost of Marley. Above all, we
sat down with the cast for many hours throughout the week going through each
line, word by word, giving meaning to unfamiliar words, while Mark would
explain its contextual placement within a line or sentence so that the company
understood the conventions of the piece and the moral importance of any
message it carried or had to offer in a modern context.
Week Seven
At the beginning of the week, David Lan returned to see our progress. Simeilia
and I sat down with both him and Mark to discuss and cast the roles within A
Christmas Carol. Our minds were inclined on casting, or at least considering,
individuals that were playing smaller or chorus parts in The Magic Flute for
more substantial roles in A Christmas Carol, but ultimately our casting
decisions were still based on experience, talent and ability. After an hour
and a half of discussion, we finally agreed on a cast list that was to be
59
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
announced and posted up for the company the following day. The conversation
then turned to casting the characters in the film section of the first Ghost
within A Christmas Carol that transports uScrooge back into the innocence of
her past.
We were very keen to start rehearsals as soon as possible, but we still needed
to hear the script read out by the full company and so the Wednesday morning
was elected as the morning we would sit down and read the full script. After
much deliberation Mark thought it would be a good idea to watch previous
interpretations of the same story both as a film and as a cartoon. This
illuminated various possibilities of interpretation to a room of South
African’s who were not familiar with the classic English fable and sparked up
a heated debate about humanity and moral obligation. The following day we
began to improvise around scenes in the first draft of our script, such as the
grave-robbers, the aid worker, charity organiser, and the Cratchitt Family
with the actors cast in those particular scenes to try and see what different
staging potentials arose out of different interpretations. It was decided that
the Cratchitt Family scene worked the best, so the others were later cut in
the final draft of the script.
Meanwhile, rehearsals for The Magic Flute were scheduled to continue as
Mandisi still neded many of the prominent marimba players to learn new musical
arrangements.
Some of these actors were also required by Mark, who was going
to be doing split calls on scenes in A Christmas Carol to work on text. We
devised a rehearsal call that all the creative members had collectively
negotiated and agreed on that allowed Mandisi to have key marimba players at
specific times throughout the day between 9am – 6pm, while Mark could also
work with those actors he required for uniting1 and actioning of text in the
larger scenes.
Unit-ing – in addition to the scenes indicated by the writer the action can be
divided up within the scene to indicate where there is a change of subject or
intention.
1
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
Simeilia and I were then given free reign over smaller scene’s in A Christmas
Carol to work with actors to get a sense of truth from the scenes whilst also
colouring them with cultural heritage and language by adding songs or changing
some of the dialogue into one of the South African languages, namely Xhosa.
Week Eight
By now we had worked through most of the scenes in A Christmas Carol, which
were now loosely staged with a few special effects to accompany certain
scenes. We were also getting prepared to shoot the film section of A Christmas
Carol by rehearsing the carols sung at a school concert when uScrooge is 12,
the Money song to signify the moment of uScrooge’s success, and the Pata Pata
song for when uScrooge is singing in a Shebeen. Along with rehearsing these
songs with Nolufefe, Mandisi was still running marimba calls for The Magic
Flute to get people off their music scores. Since the dates of the filming
were now looming closer by the day, Mark frequently had to pop out to have
meetings with the production manager, Laura, or go to the Waterfront Studios
to meet with the film editor, Raneel.
Charles Hazelwood, a music director Mark had previously collaborated with,
spent three days in rehearsals to bring a fresh eye and to see how the pieces
had progressed. He came to the rehearsal room like a storm and left having
helped to layer our bold South African adaptation of The Magic Flute and A
Christmas Carol with extra subtle musical nuances that re-ignited the pieces.
What was particularly interesting was his suggestion that the magic flute
could easily be considered as a magic drum.
Week Nine
The week of the shoot had finally arrived and we began filming at our scouted
location for that day at 8am. Our first day of shoot was in the township of
Guguleto, the township home of uScrooge as a child, as her drunken father
leaves and her resilient mother cradles an upset uScrooge flanked by
uScrooge’s stoic older sister, Pumla. The second day of filming was at the
clothing factory in which uScrooge worked before she dedicates her life to
61
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
making money. The following day we shot the silent movie were Marley offers
uScrooge the chance to buy out the factory. This day of shooting also included
the death of Marley and uScrooge attending his funeral at a church. The third
day of the shoot included the children’s orphanage and the school choir
concert that half of the company had been tirelessly rehearsing for. On our
fourth day, we started to film the musical section in the shebeen.
Mine and Simeilia’s roles changed slightly - aside from working and watching
closely the role of a director on set, we had to assume the role of continuity
supervisor, make-up assistant, and guest performer supervisor. The filming
wrapped up without too many problems and the company was now reassured that
once we had the finished offline edit we could polish and fix the sound-scape.
Simeilia and I spent time with Reneel, the editor, and went through the order
of the shots and Mark’s requirements for each edit.
Week Ten
The editing began in earnest while rehearsals of both the shows continued.
Much time was spent on the second and third ghost as the company and Mark
waited patiently for the DVD imagery of the silent film. Upon receiving the
offline edit, the sound was slowly applied, but we soon discovered that one of
the more significant images in the factory scenes in the film was out of focus
and that moment had to be re-shot.
An unwelcome added pressure!
We were now also had more frequent visits from Mannie Manim, (lighting
designer and executive director of the Baxter Theatre where we would play in
Cape Town), Charles Hazelwood and David Lan.
On this visit David was also
accompanied by writer and actor Kwame Kwai Ahmah, who had agreed to write a
piece about the project for The Guardian.
They all cast a complimentary but critical eye on the work we were developing
for the opening night, which was now no more than a week away, with a few
hours to spare between the get-in into the Baxter Theatre and performing in
front of a live paying audience. Fortunately, we were able to re-shoot the
62
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
unfocused scene the next day, and two days later edit it into the appropriate
point in the factory section.
By now, we had also decided that the sound of the magic flute would be played
on a trumpet by Mandisi on stage behind Tamino.
Week Eleven
We finally moved into the performance space at the Baxter Theatre and everyone
in the company was very excited.
The first part of the week was spent plotting lights, building the set and
ensuring the special effects were under control. We also looked at the actors’
entrances and exits so that they were easily accessible in-between playing the
marimbas and costume changes in The Magic Flute and producing a sound effect
and being in place to come on for a scene or a set piece in A Christmas Carol.
All of these things moments had to be carefully worked out, as we were aiming
to have an uninterrupted dress rehearsal performance for both shows, as they
would be watched by invited Baxter and Young Vic staff, plus the executive
producer, Eric Abrahams.
Although we were still waiting for the graded online DVD version of the film
section, A Christmas Carol dress rehearsal played out with just a few late
entrances, and after some direction notes from Mark, we began to make
structural changes to the narrative. We also made some drastic creative
decisions to cut some scenes in A Christmas Carol, because we felt they slowed
down the pace and did not really add anything extra to the overall story. Some
of the songs were also changed or enhanced to have a more dynamic effect when
accompanying a scene. After all these things resolved A Christmas Carol
started its previews with audience numbers building as the performances
progressed and the press night ended with a rapturous response from the
audience.
63
Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
The dress run of The Magic Flute on Saturday proved more demanding because of
some complicated lighting states that took a great deal of time to plot.
Furthermore, some of the more technical effects in the show were not working
properly so we were only able to run act one of The Magic Flute to the invited
guests.
Week Twelve
On Monday we reworked some sections of the play and then worked tirelessly to
revise scenes and costumes.
We also worked on changes in the music that had
been suggested by Mandisi and Charles Hazelwood.
These changes continued to
be rehearsed in the day while we did previews in the evening.
By press night a lot of changes had been made and the new musical arrangements
and character developments had greatly enhanced the show. The whole company
now felt they had an original and exceptionally dynamic second show to present
to audiences in Cape Town - a sentiment shared by renowned classical composer
and conductor Simon Rattle, who paid us a surprise visit. With his confidenceboosting approval, The Magic Flute press night ended with rousing audience.
The two opening nights proved that all the hard work should see two hit South
African adaptations of The Magic Flute and A Christmas Carol transfer to
London.
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Eric Abraham and the Young Vic present an
Isango/Portobello – Young Vic production
The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by Mark
Dornford-May
18. RESOURCES
Books:
Drabble, Margaret (ed.), The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 1997,
London: Oxford University Press
Louw, P. Eric, The Rise, Fall and Legacy of Apartheid, 2004, Praegar
Slater, Michael, Dickens, Charles John Huffman (1812-1870), Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography, 2004, Oxford University Press
Thompson, Leonard, A History of South Africa, Third Edition, 2001, Yale
University Press
Pinchuck, T and McCrea, B The Rought Guide to Cape Town, 2002, Rough Guides
Ltd
Websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml
http://www.lafi.org/magazine/articles/marimba.html
http://www.mozartproject.org/
http://www.sahistory.org.za/
http://www.sfopera.com/opera.asp?o=254
http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/culture/music.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRdickens.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org
All websites are correct at time of going to print in December 2007.
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