Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater

Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater is a one-person play by Neil Coppen and Mpume Mthombeni.

BEING EDITED

Not to be confused with The Fire-eater!, a one-act farce by Charles Selby (c.1802-1863)[1]

The original text

Based on a range of testimonials shared with the authors at the Urban Futures Centre (UFC) during their Empatheatre research processes, the play is set in a womens' hostel in Durban, where Zenzile Maseko, a grandmother in her 60s, partially disabled and declared dead by Home Affairs, has to reckon with "Nkulunkulu" (God). She recalls the unbelievable series of events that have unfolded across her lifetime.

First performed at the 2022 National Arts Festival, the play went on to tour throughout South Africa and Europe, inter alia with performances at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (Durban), The Market Theatre (Johannesburg), the Hilton Arts Festival (KZN), the Noordezon Festival of Performing Arts (Groningen Netherlands), The Kampnagel International Summer Festival (Hamburg,Germany) and the La Bâtie – Festival de Genève (Switzerland).

The play text was published by Wits University Press.

Since its premiere the production has toured throughout South Africa and Europe to sold-out houses and rave reviews, in the process garnering four Naledi Theatre Awards for Best Production, Best Actor in a solo performance, Best Director and Best lighting design, and was nominated for four more awards. At the 2024 Woordtrofees awards it won Best New South African text, Best Solo Performance for Mpume Mthombeni and Best Technical Achievement for Tina Le Roux. It was selected as the Noorderzon Critics Choice at the 2023 Noordezon Festival of Performing Arts in the Netherlands.