Sunduza takes play to Grahamstown

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
AFTER its brief run at the Bulawayo Theatre, Sunduza Dance Theatre are set to take their production, Voices from the Rocks, to Grahamstown, South Africa as they look to broaden their horizons beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.

The play made its return to Bulawayo’s theatre scene when it was showcased at the Bulawayo Theatre over the last few weeks.
The whole Sunduza ensemble has been invited to stage the production at the National Arts Festival in the Eastern Cape province of Grahamstown, from 28 June to 3 July.

Composed by the late Simon Banda, voices from the Rocks is based on the book of the same name by the late professor Terence Ranger who has written extensively on Zimbabwean history. Much of this story involved collecting oral representations that have been adapted for the stage by Mandla Sibanda and Simon Banda.

Despite the production being the reimaging of an old theatre piece, the young new team has also made creative changes with imaginative additional choreography from Mkhululi Khanye and tight artistic direction from Charlie Banda who leads the group.

In a mixture of the old and new, Baphi Mdladla stars as the Native Commissioner, Khalipani Ndlovu as Chief Faku while other cast members include Linda Sithole, Ivy Nkoma, Misheck Magaya, Mcedisi Sibanda, Sindile Leroy Sibanda(trumpet) and Charles Banda(narrator).

Supporting the technical crew is Leroy Sibanda from the cultural training project Amasiko Lemvelo.

“They (Sunduza) will be working closely with their sponsor and long serving producer Philip Weiss who devises their productions and supports the management training programmes pushed by Amasiko Lemvelo. It will be primarily a team building exercise and a revival of touring to South Africa which will also take in Durban as Bulawayo’s twin city,” the group said in a statement.