Holding at its core some of The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s interests in language and translation through performance, What Is It? attempts to both satirise and make sense of the varied and nebulous interpretations of mythology as it exists across language, tradition, and culture.

The stage is littered with language and text. Books and loose pages are stacked and scattered around a seat, upon which sits a lone character, played by Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi. One at a time, he picks up these texts and tomes, all of them (seemingly) aiding him in getting closer to the origins, forms, and functions of myth. He spells the word out – m-y-t-h, m-i-t-h, m-e-e-t-h – applies it to a sentence, tests it sound and shape on his tongue. It is a comical and curious scene and one that sets the tone for the rest of the play, an absurd and humorous foray into etymology and history, pursuing all the while the daunting and empirical nature of knowledge.

Giving a physical language to these texts is central to the performance. As Mgeyi engages with a set of dictionaries, he gives them accents, personalities, and physical gestures. It is a means of making sense of a text, applying it across a variety of languages and scenarios to see if it holds, changes shape or meaning. In this way, he is like a student preparing for a test, or making the most of an afternoon bogged down by homework.

In and amongst it all, there is an anxiety of excess. The weight of mythology and language puts him down, drives him to the point of rage. He eats the page, chews the pulp, and spits it out. It is both a consumption of history and knowledge, and an act of pointed refusal.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

CONCEPTUALISERS | Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi & Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu
DIRECTOR | Nhlanhla Mahlangu
PERFORMER | Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi