Season 6 was co-curated by architect and urban designer Thiresh Govender and dancer and choreographer Sello Pesa of Ntsoana ContemporaryTheatre, alongside founder William Kentridge and co-animateurs Bronwyn Lace and Phala Ookeditse Phala.

HER CITY!

[FULL Performance can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/371842418]

A collection of devised, performative vignettes by the women of Season 6 of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Her City! is a sharp and affecting bit of theatre.

Employing sound, live music, movement, power tools, items of food and more, Her City! puts forward a metaphor-laden performance that investigates the various expectations and everyday nuances and antagonisms of labour and identity, using the body as a conceptual springboard.

Opening with the full cast carrying a double-bass over their heads and onto a raised platform while donning heels, the piece maintains a decidedly precarious and sombre tone throughout. Be it the faint stroke of bow on double bass, the sharp cry of a new-born child, the frantic kneading of dough, or the act of stuffing minced, blood-red tomatoes into the pockets of an apron, Her City! is a piece alive with compelling and intimate imagery and choreography.

Taking place on a temporary stage in The Centre’s atrium space, the performance also challenged the broader public to view and engage with the piece on a more communal level than is achieved through conventional theatre spaces.

It is this semi-public component of Her City! that manages to lend a unique and unexpected element to the performance – No matter how difficult, how distressing, or how painfully familiar the scene before us may be, we only look on en masse, waiting for it all to pass.

Conceptualised & performed by | Napo Masheane, Andisiwe Mpinda, Faniswa Yisa, Princess Tshabangu, Teresa Phuti Mojela, Lorin Sookool & Catrin Dowd

Directed by Faniswa Yisa

Cinematography & Editing by | Noah Cohen

Writing by | David Mann

Photography | Zivanai Matangi