Review: Powerful Choreopoem SONGS FOR KHWEZI is Theatre That Can Disrupt and Heal

There are many powerful statements in Refilwe Nkomo's SONGS FOR KHWEZI, not the least of which is the idea that 'sometimes just breathing is a revolutionary act.' In a post-show talkback that is a feature of the performance of this piece in Cape Town Fringe season, Nkomo added that along with breathing, being present in a situation where your presence is unusual could be similarly revolutionary. But, she asked, how can women love, dance, do all the good things in life when even just walking down the street traps them within a soundscape of sexual harassment?

SONGS FOR KHWEZI invokes the spirit and story of the woman who accused President Jacob Zuma of rape in 2005. The Johannesburg High Court dismissed the charges, declaring that the sex had been consensual. Most accounts of the trial highlight the victim-blaming and slut-shaming that were the foundation of the cross-examination to which Khwezi was subjected. Zuma's interpretation of Khwezi's wearing of a kanga on the night in question as an invitation to sex was ultimately accepted by the court, perpetuating the fallacy that there is some kind of relationship between dress and sexual consent.

This type of endorsement of sexual violence perpetrated against women has clear implications for women in the current day, not only in what people might consider to be major traumas but also in daily acts of sexual harassment and discrimination that inhibit not one famous woman or three nameless women or the one-in-three women that experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetimes, but every woman. It is the full scope of this territory that SONGS FOR KHWEZI explores.

Written in the form of a choreopoem, a multi-disciplinary form created by Ntozake Shange to hold the stories she told in FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, SONGS FOR KWEZI shifts between monologue, poetry, song and movement as Nkomo tries to unpack the idea through multi-modal of expression. This is a bold choice, especially for a solo performance, and it pays off brilliantly. As Nkomo shifts from one mode to the next, piece that is as complex as the thematic territory it explores, emerges.

There is, perhaps, further exploration that Nkomo could attempt in collaboration with the director of the piece, Refiloe Lepere, finding the way that some of the modalities employed speak to, over, in spite of and against one another, particularly during sections that are danced to pre-recorded music and speech. What might a simultaneously sung and danced sequence achieve? Is there anything in attempting to dance while speaking live words that, at present, are broadcast over the sound system? Is there scope for live musical accompaniment to find its way into the production? The way that the body affects the voice, or that a song affects movement, might provide options that enrich Nkomo's conceptual approach to the subject matter that she is opening up even further.

SONGS FOR KHWEZI is theatre that one hopes to see grow in its reach. It is theatre that says important things in an original way. It is theatre that speaks truths that women know and that men need to hear. It is theatre that can disrupt. It is theatre that can heal. Go see it, see where it meets you on your life journey, and see the journey upon which it enables you to embark. Your presence in that space might be the start of a revolutionary act.

SONGS FOR KHWEZI has two performances left at the 2016 Cape Town Fringe, tonight (7 October) at 20:00 and tomorrow (8 October) at 14:15. Bookings are through the Cape Town Fringe website.

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