Artist With No Title is a musical, theatrical, and dance-centric performance that was incubated and performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in July 2018 as part of the For Once Programme.

Directed by Shanell Winlock Pailman, the playful and collaborative performance features Teresa Phuti Mojela, Khutjo Green Gregory K. Mabusela, Simphiwe Bonongo, Julia Burnham and Phindo Ngxanga – all artists who have performed and travelled widely throughout their careers. This becomes one of many points of parody and reflection in Artist With No Title: the notion of success and prestige, of having built up an enviable career in the arts.

The performance opens with a caricature of showmanship. Green is the performing artist, the dazzling medium delivering messages from beyond, and engaging in various “tricks and effects”. All the while, her team builds a sketchy edifice out of poles and plastic. Green’s performance collapses in on itself like the flimsy structure, and the artists are immediately at each other’s throats, wailing and placing blame.

Much of Artist With No Title carries this tone of playful lamentation, be it Burnham’s solo on the state of the performing arts – “short breaks, 9-5, salary cuts, small budget, no funding, get it right” – or Mojela’s closing performance that parodies the common refrain of the auditioning actor – “I rehearse very hard, with passion. Sharpening my skills, to get that part.”

With Billy Langa as musical director, song plays a crucial role in the work, and brings a momentum and further performativity to the sketches and individual performances. Plastic is also present throughout the work and lends an enduring materiality to the play. It doubles up as canvas, costume and more, sometimes excessive and smothering, other times lavish and vibrant.

As each performer parodies and pokes fun at themselves and their craft, they also point to the longstanding, systemic issues within the arts, and the trials and tribulations of making a sustainable career out of one’s art. In this way, Artist With No Title is a performance of wilfully flailing limbs and shaky falsettos, full of spirited jabs at audience, artist and industry alike.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

PERFORMERS | Teresa Phuti Mojela, Gregory K. Mabusela, Bonongo Simphiwe K Man, Julia Burnham, Khutjo Green & Phindo Master P Ngxanga
DIRECTOR | Shanell Winlock
MUSICAL DIRECTOR | Billy Edward Langa
LIGHTING DESIGNER | Josias Mashiane
CINEMATOGRAPHER | Kutlwano Makgalemele
EDITOR | Noah Cohen
PROJECT MANAGER | Shruthi Nair
STAGE MANAGER | Hayleigh Evans & POPArt Productions