Thupa Kobong – The Repress of ‘Nothing’ is a durational performance work by Pretoria-based dancer, choreographer, and performing artist Thabo Rapoo. The work was first performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in August 2021 as part of the For Once programme.

Motsamai (imbued by Rapoo) is a homeless man who, following the realisation that he will amount to nothing in his lifetime, enters a prolonged state of anguish and disillusionment. He pores over proverbs, religious scripture and legal texts in an effort to reckon with his existence, but finds nothing. It is this nothingness, explains Rapoo, that “echoes his every step.”

Thupa Kobong – The Repress of ‘Nothing’ is a work of distinct durational moments. Through these moments, Rapoo mines the condition of a man at odds with his own existence – one that is at once predestined and futile. As audiences filter into the theatre space, Motsamai is there with his jangling polystyrene cup, performing a well-known choreography that plays itself out at street corners and robots (traffic lights) across the city. He is largely ignored, someone to be looked at, but rarely engaged with. In this way, these first encounters with the character contribute to how he is ultimately perceived.

When his cup is upturned, spilling loose change onto the stage where it clatters and clinks around him, he begins to search for meaning. This search is multifaceted. It happens through the voice, the body, the use of choice texts projected onto the wall behind him. At the centre of the stage, a blanket hangs from a rope and becomes a site of great comfort, memory, violence and pain for Motsamai.

Throughout the performance, Rapoo employs repetitive gestures – whistling, the shaking of the head, mantra-like recitations. It is a means of locating himself in the world, of fighting for recognition and visibility, but it is also a refusal of his current condition, albeit a futile one. Throughout much of the performance, a simple, sonic refrain is heard – “Mm, mm”. It is a dismissive sound and, like Motsamai’s relentless performance, it is exhausting and ceaseless, working to wear him down, to refuse him. “You are nothing, you will never amount to anything” is another refrain, spoken, sobbed and howled by Motsamai. It is employed ad nauseum, to the point of exhaustion, hilarity, insanity and inhumanity. When he does break down and cry, it is equally unbearable.

Ultimately, Thupa Kobong – The Repress of ‘Nothing’ locates itself in the performance of exhaustion, and the brutality of the everyday. It is a powerful and painful work, and one that implores you to not look away.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

WRITER, CHOREOGRAPHER & PERFORMER | Thabo Rapoo
MUSIC | Thabo Rapoo
DIRECTOR | Phala O. Phala
DESIGNER | Nthabiseng Malaka
PROJECTION DESIGNER | Dimakatso Motholo