Difference between revisions of "Ulwembu"

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''[[Ulwembu]]'' ("spider web" in isi[[Zulu]]) is a workshopped play by [[Empatheatre]] and [[The Big Brotherhood]], a KwaMashu-based theatre company
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''[[Ulwembu]]'' ("spider web" in isi[[Zulu]]) is a workshopped play by [[Empatheatre]] and [[The Big Brotherhood]]
  
 
==The original text==
 
==The original text==
  
The play was developed through improvisation by , under the guidance of and Dylan McGarry. The aim was In 2014 we began working in Durban’s KwaMashu, Umlazi and inner city areas. As a team of academics and storytellers, we wanted to see if theatre could unlock more humane and collaborative responses to whoonga.  
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The idea for the play was initially developed by [[Big Brotherhood]] in 2014 and the play created over the two years (2014-2015)  through collaborative improvisation with playwright [[Neil Coppen]], actress and ethnographer [[Mpume Mtombeni]] and educational sociologist [[Dylan McGarry]], with mentorship from academics at Durban’s Urban Futures Centre[].
  
 
The play tells the story of six people caught in the whoonga web. (The drug whoonga[], also known as nyaope, is a street concoction of B-grade heroin, rat-poison (strychnine) and various other chemical components.) The characters include Bongani, a drug dealer; Portia, a police lieutenant on the front line of the fight against the scourge; her son Sipho; his friend Andile; and Emmanuel, a Mozambique-born shopkeeper.
 
The play tells the story of six people caught in the whoonga web. (The drug whoonga[], also known as nyaope, is a street concoction of B-grade heroin, rat-poison (strychnine) and various other chemical components.) The characters include Bongani, a drug dealer; Portia, a police lieutenant on the front line of the fight against the scourge; her son Sipho; his friend Andile; and Emmanuel, a Mozambique-born shopkeeper.
  
The published script of ''[[Ulwembu]]'' also contains the production’s research and outcomes and is available from Wits University Press.
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The play text, published in 2018 by [[Wits University Press]], also contains the production’s research and outcomes.
  
 
==Translations and adaptations==
 
==Translations and adaptations==

Revision as of 08:37, 22 February 2021

Ulwembu ("spider web" in isiZulu) is a workshopped play by Empatheatre and The Big Brotherhood.

The original text

The idea for the play was initially developed by Big Brotherhood in 2014 and the play created over the two years (2014-2015) through collaborative improvisation with playwright Neil Coppen, actress and ethnographer Mpume Mtombeni and educational sociologist Dylan McGarry, with mentorship from academics at Durban’s Urban Futures Centre[].

The play tells the story of six people caught in the whoonga web. (The drug whoonga[], also known as nyaope, is a street concoction of B-grade heroin, rat-poison (strychnine) and various other chemical components.) The characters include Bongani, a drug dealer; Portia, a police lieutenant on the front line of the fight against the scourge; her son Sipho; his friend Andile; and Emmanuel, a Mozambique-born shopkeeper.

The play text, published in 2018 by Wits University Press, also contains the production’s research and outcomes.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

Zenzo Msomi as "Sipho" and Ngcebo Cele as "Andile"

Sources

Dylan McGarry. 2021. "The South African play that’s tackling the scourge of the street drug whoonga" The Conversation February 21, 2021[1]

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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