Since early 2023, William Kentridge has been working on his latest theatre project, The Great YES, The Great NO.

Produced by Kentridge and THE OFFICE performing arts + film, and developed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea, The Great YES, The Great NO centres around a historical escape from Vichy France by, among others, the surrealist André Breton, the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, the Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam, the communist novelist Victor Serge, and the author Anna Seghers.

The journey also becomes fictionalised through including on the passenger list Aimé Césaire, the Nardal sisters (co-founders with Césaire of the anti-colonial Négritude movement in Paris), the West Indian Marxist philosopher Franz Fanon, Josephine Bonaparte, Josephine Baker, Trotsky, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Stalin.

Using the potential of the boat as a metaphor for power, trade, migration and more, The Great YES, The Great NO draws on many of the processes and methodologies that have become central to both Kentridge and The Centre’s ways of working. For Season 10, an early iteration of The Great YES, The Great NO is presented in the form of an open rehearsal and demonstration of the process of making.

Led by Kentridge, together with some of the production’s key cast, musicians, and technical crew, the performance uses some of the key moments of The Great YES, The Great NO to demonstrate its process of coming together. A paper by the poet, dramatist, and sociologist Ari Sitas about the historic journey from Marseille to Martinique is what inspired the work, explains Kentridge, while the writings of a number of the “passengers” of the work, as well as the poems of Bertolt Brecht formed the surrealist basis of the libretto.

Similarly, a number of experiments on the workshop floor were used to develop The Great YES, The Great NO. Many of these experiments have been drawn from The Centre’s previous Seasons and performances. Among them is the women’s chorus, inspired by the Season 7 performance Umthandazo, and the language of the loudhailers as well as the choreography of the collapsing figure on the piano, both drawn from the Surplus Circus in Season 4.

Kentridge also deploys and enhances theatrical elements first developed in his film Oh To Believe in Another World, which was made to accompany Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, including the use of a system of cardboard cutout masks for the different characters, as well as other signature aspects of his unique stylistic approach to visual storytelling.

The musicality of language is another key component of the work. Shona, Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu and more African languages are used in the women’s chorus, which lends its voice to a number of key moments in the production, including the “box of birds” section which merges Kentridge’s drawing with animation, live projection, performance and musicality.

As The Great YES, The Great NO prepares for its international tours in 2024 and 2025, this early iteration of the work provides a glimpse of a performance in the process of being made, and allows for a window into some of Kentridge and The Centre’s ways of working.

CONCEPTUALISER & DIRECTOR | William Kentridge
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS | Phala Ookeditse Phala & Nhlanhla Mahlangu DRAMATURG | Mwenya Kabwe
CHORAL DIRECTOR | Nhlanhla Mahlangu
MUSICAL DIRECTOR & PERCUSSIONIST | Tlale Makhene
PERFORMERS | Hamilton Dlamini, Xolisile Bongwana, Thulani Chauke, Teresa Phuti Mojela, Tony Miyambo & William Harding
CHORUS | Asanda Hanabe, Thuli Magubane, Khokho Madlala, Nomathamsanqa Ngoma, Mapule Moloi, Zandile Hlatshwayo & Anathi Conjwa
SET DESIGNER | Sabine Theunissen
COSTUME DESIGNER | Greta Goiris
MUSICIAN | Neo Muyanga
VIDEO EDITORS | Janus Fouché, Žana Marović & Joshua Trappler

— David Mann

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi

Taking performance out of the theatre and into the public spaces of Maboneng and its surrounds has been central to The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s ways of working since its inaugural Season.

Most recently revisited in Season 6, the Public Procession is a means of mapping and engaging with the people, the architecture, the public space, and the everyday performances, practices and processions that exist in the city.

In No Man’s Land, Sello Pesa’s two-part public procession, performers, waste reclaimers, musical groups and members of the public come together to move through, activate, and pay tribute to the public spaces of Maboneng, Jeppestown and surrounds.

“How can we talk about Arts on Main without talking about Mai Mai or Jeppestown? There are also performances taking place there,” explains Pesa.

Taking place over two mornings, No Man’s Land sees the Joburg Minstrels, the Kimbangiste Brass Band, the isichatamiya group Inselelo ye Mbobe, the Duduza Serenade choir and more bringing their practices to the streets of Johannesburg.

Central to the procession is the intersection of various pre-exisiting dynamics in the city. By identifying and activating the inherent musicality, choreography and everyday performance of the city, the public procession becomes a roving, improvisational work.

It becomes a performance that speaks as much to the people of the spaces it moves through as it does to the infrastructures that frame and influence these spaces.

— David Mann

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi

CREDITS:

Part 1

CONCEPTUALISER | Sello Pesa
PERFORMERS (RECLAIMERS) | Micca Manganye, Vusi Mdoyi, Teresa Phuti Mojela, Simphiwe ‘Beatz’ Bonongo, Ntsoana Contemporary Dance Theatre: Ange Bembeka, Humphrey Maleka & Sello Pesa
MATSELA NOKA (RECYCLERS) | Chimama Chimama, Motlatsi Chochane, Lirafi Mabasa, Seabata Mokhothotso, Rorisang Morapelo, Thabelo Ralesupi, Makopano Ramakabane, Thabelo Ralesupi & Mamotsesesi Thamae
JOBURG MINSTRELS | Saeed Abrahams, Moegammad Boolay, Precilla Bowes, Chandre Cherval, Chadwyn Louw, Megan Gessler, Aminah Hendricks, Nazeerah Hendricks, Zakiyyah Hendricks, Nadia Jacobs, Octavia Jenkins, Shari Jenkins, Aisha Bernadine Petrus, Nathan Rangers, Francis Rhoda, Simone Kelly Rhoda, Mohamed Sallie, Shaiq Sallie, June Stevens, Teresa Swart, Keren Swart, Emmanuel Terblanche, Anjonique Von Eck, Antonia Von Eck, Cassandra Von Eck, Chevon Von Eck, Len-drique Von Eck, Melandre Von Eck, Reuchelle Von Eck, Sandra Von Eck & Shane Jnr Von Eck

Part 2

CONCEPTUALISER | Sello Pesa
PERFORMERS | Ntsoana Contemporary Dance Theatre: Ange Bembeka, Humphrey Maleka & Sello Pesa
INSELELO YE MBOBE | Jimmy Khanyile, Jabulane Lamola, Vusi Mothuli, Skhulu Dladla, Melusi Ngobese, Bhekane Lamola, Thobelane Masango, Lungelo Masango, Celemusa Ngobese, Bafanzane Khanyile, Mduduzi Masango, Lungisani Shange & Mlu Khanyile
KIMBANGISTE BRASS BAND | Diclin Mwambi, Gradi Kalongo, Mira Kalongo, Samuel Lendo, Wayne Mbiza, Berthin Nondo, Debs Nondo, Ancaclet Sibu, Sami Bahama & Chris Mbuyi
DUDUZA SERENADE | Hamilton Motloung (Choir Director), Ntando Jileka, Goodman Nkosi, Palesa Makopo, Sphiwe Mnyakeni, Jacob Modisenyane, Gift Mkaza, Katleho Success Ntja, Nkululeko Mahlaba, Mduduzi Sindane, Katleho Mtembu, Lerato Mahlangu, Lerato Khoza, Tshepiso Pheko, Nonhlanhla Mvubu, Motlalepula Mohapeloa, Londiwe Radebe, Mpho Mokoena, Joyce Mashinini, Sbongile Motaung, Swazi Mtshali, Nthabiseng Sithole, Amohelang Mahloko, Lerato Kekana, Mammela Moremoholo, Bafana Mavimbela, Khulekani Nxumalo, Happy Ntuli, Thabiso Mokoena, Nomfundo Maleka, Tshepo Shabalala, Lerato Koele, Phumlani Tshabalala, Thoko Chauke, Lebogang Blos, Nomasonto Nhlapo, Mastorie Elizabeth Sebulele, Lerato Dibetso, Lethabo Rams & Hope Mabena

African Exodus has a long history with The Centre for the Less Good Idea. Conceptualised by Sbusiso Shozi and first incubated at The Centre in 2018, African Exodus has been reimagined as a musical odyssey of sound across cultures, genres, languages, and geographies, while also taking the shape of an experimental, metaphysical journey.

Over the years, the show has developed across various iterations, and has gone on to be performed abroad. Its performance in Season 10 is something of a homecoming.

More than 80 pairs of shoes are used in African Exodus. Throughout the performance, they become phones, bowls, make-up applicators, and percussive instruments. They also serve as narrative vessels, and markers of movement and migration.

The songs that make up African Exodus are collectively composed from languages and musical styles from across the African continent and abroad. The work culminates in a striking meeting of Western and African choral traditions.

It is through this evolving musical and performative narrative that we can begin to better understand the lesser-known movements of the past. African Exodus uses music, language and movement to excavate and put forward lucid and illuminating scenes of African history, navigating the movement of people and their linguistic footprints within the African continent.

WRITER, COMPOSER & MUSICAL DIRECTOR | Sbusiso Shozi
DIRECTOR | Nhlanhla Mahlangu
PERFORMERS | Sbusiso Shozi, Thabo Gwadiso, Simphiwe Skhakhane, Thulani Zwane, Dikeledi Modubu, Lindokuhle Thabede & Isaac Kenny Mahlodi Rakotsoane
MUSICIANS | Micca Manganye & Volley Nchabeleng

— David Mann

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi

What happens when a story emerges as a recurring dream and asks to be told, not in the voice of the performer but in the voices of those who appear in the dream, begging to be heard?

Sand is strewn across the stage, transforming it into a surreal and secluded shoreline. Brittle statues are evoked, dotting the landscape like stubborn markers of history. Various objects are strewn about – the detritus of a shipwrecked mind or the fragments of memory – and a solitary figure traverses the landscape.

Eribuweni Ra Lwandle | On the Shoreline, conceptualised by Tony Miyambo and Phala Ookeditse Phala, with movement direction by Thulani Chauke, combines object theatre, performance, and trance-like movement patterns to tell a story born from a recurring dream full of fragments.

Traversing the historical landscapes of slavery, colonisation and apartheid – landscapes full of the unseen, the unrecognised, the unheard, and the undocumented – the work finds its meaning through the absences, the missing pieces, the spirits of the dead, and the untold truths.

History, like a dream, is a patchy palimpsest. Always erratic, abundant with sparse information, and full of the unseen, the unheard, the undocumented. It is this fragmentary cacophony from which the play derives its meaning: the missing, the ghosts of the dead, the untold truths, those pushed to the margins of history and rendered invisible.

Rich in text and led by short, considered moments of movement, Eribuweni Ra Lwandle is a profound, immersive prose poem for the stage. It is both a memorialisation and a mourning – an enduring attempt at recognising and remembering.

CONCEPTUALISERS | Phala Ookeditse Phala & Tony Miyambo
DIRECTOR | Phala Ookeditse Phala
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR | Thulani Chauke
PERFORMER | Tony Miyambo
RECORDED MUSIC | Micca Manganye, Simphiwe Skhakhane, Tshepang Mofokeng, Phala Ookeditse Phala & Lindokuhle Thabede
CO-PRODUCED BY | Noma Yini (Pty) Ltd, The Center for the Less Good Idea & SPIELART Theatre Festival

— David Mann

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi

As a generator of new material, a prompt, a collaborative component to a performance in process, or as a standalone art form to be expanded upon and collapsed, live improvisational music is an essential part of The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s way of working.

In Season 10, two separate performances, both titled Evening of Percussion, are dedicated to this generative way of working. Featuring some of The Centre’s frequent collaborators, namely Tlale Makhene, Angelo Moustapha, Teresa Phuti Mojela, Micca Manganye and Volley Nchabeleng, the Evening of Percussion is a collaborative, improvisational, responsive performance with a focus on the many ways in which percussion can be located in, and emerge from, the body.

There is no conventional composition to these performances. Rather, the musicians are in conversation – with each other, with their instruments, with their bodies, and with the audience. Makhene begins by developing a rhythm and handing it over to Moustapha who builds on it, adding his own signatures, and passing it on to Manganye. So it goes.

The synergy between the musicians is most apparent here, and as they revel in this collective, percussive conversation, the audience is content to watch them talk. Soon enough, the room is invited in and the conversation grows to include the audience. A call-and-response style moment from Nchabeleng ensures no one is left out.

On evening two, guest performances from Vusi Mdoyi and Simphiwe “Beatz” Bonongo lend a new energy to the ensemble, introducing pantsula-inspired percussive elements and beatboxing respectively.

As much as the Evening of Percussion is an original, live performance of its own, it also serves as a tribute to the musicians of The Centre, and the unique ability of percussion and the body to animate the room, and the process of making.

CONDUCTORS & COMPOSERS | Tlale Makhene & Angelo Moustapha
PERCUSSIONISTS | Tlale Makhene, Angelo Moustapha, Micca Manganye, Volley Nchabeleng, Teresa Phuti Mojela, Vusi Mdoyi & Simphiwe Beatz Bonongo

— David Mann

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi