MA Final Project | ma

Title

MA Final Project | ma

Department

Theatre

Production Type

Masters Final Production

Description

*English*
ma, is an experimental play-film that served as the final project of Kanya Viljoen’s masters. The piece makes use of the classic notion of the chorus within a tragedy and questions how the choir functions within contemporary South Africa, specifically in relation to the Afrikaner identity.

In ma, a chorus of ‘daughters’ seeks to ‘talk back’, ‘perform back’ to the Mother(tongue), with a specific emphasis on the Afrikaans language as spoken object. Therefore, the performance ma, not only refers to the specific relationship between a mother and her daughter(s), but seeks to encapsulate various metaphors around the mother figure. These include the mother tongue, Afrikaans, which in itself could be argued to encapsulate the white, Afrikaner; South Africa, as a country that has given birth to the chorus of women performing; and the various figures that have raised the chorus of daughters, including mother-like figures such as grandmothers, aunts and sisters. The title, ma, could also be understood as the Afrikaans pronunciation, and Afrikaaps word, for ‘maar’ (but). Often in Afrikaans the word is used as a hesitation, an interjection, a start of a disagreement with what is being said or an opening to something different. ma, therefore seeks to further a conversation with identity, womanhood and youth within a South African context. A conversation that often leads to a sense of (un)belonging, wreckage and despair.

*Afrikaans*
ma, is ‘n eksperimentele toneel-film wat as deel van Kanya Viljoen se Meesters gevorm het. Die stuk maak gebruik van die klassieke idee van ‘n koor binne ‘n tragedie en hoe so ‘n koor binne die kontemporêre Suid-Afrika kan lyk, spesifiek in verhouding tot Afrikaner wees. In ma, probeer ‘n koor van dogters met hul ‘ma’ ‘n gesprek voer oor identiteit, vrouwees en jonk wees binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. ‘n Gesprek wat dikwels tot ‘n gevoel van niksseggendheid en hopeloosheid ly.

Die projek vorm deel van die Re-Imagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South navorsingsprojek, wat spesifiek die idee van tragedie binne die Suidelike halfrond navors en bevraagteken. ma, is ‘n bewoording en verbeelding van tragedie binne die bestaan van jong, Afrikaanse vrou. Die stuk is as eksperimentele toneel-film aangepak weens die pandemie en maak spesifiek van beide genres gebruik om die gehoor uit te daag en te heroriënteer. Die TV word binne die stuk as ‘n ‘ma-figuur’/ moeder-land/ moedertong verbeel, iets wat beide nooit stil is nie, maar nooit terug antwoord nie. Die stuk speel met die konsepte van die antieke tragedie, die koor as metafoor van die alleman, of samelewing se stem, en taal as protes.

Cast and Crew
Writer | Kanya Viljoen
Director | Kanya Viljoen
Cast | Anoecha Kruger
Megan Theron
Mariana del Carmen
Christine Viviers
Stage-Manager | Wicus Louw
Lighting Design | Kanya Viljoen
Set Design | Kanya Viljoen
Choreography | Kanya Viljoen

For Filming
Director | Kanya Viljoen
Director of Photography | Emilie Badenhorst
Focus Puller | Brandon Bright
Sound | Theuns van Dyk
Editor | Jannous Aukema
Sound Editor | Vuyo Rhoda
Photography | Liese Kuhn and Lindsay Appolis

With Thanks To
The Space Cape Town and Puleng Stewart
Panavision and Stratosphere
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, UCT

Language

Afrikaans

Script Type

Devised

Year Created

2020

Opening Date

3 December 2020

Closing Date

4 December 2020

Performance Venue

Geographic Location of Performance

Cape Town

Director

Choreographer

Text By

Set Designer

Lighting Designer

Filmed By

Emilie Badenhorst

Stage Manager

Wicus Louw

Thesis Submission

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