Mama, a show by Beacon Valley playwright Chenal Kock, 24, will be staged at the Artscape Arena from Wednesday April 10 to Saturday April 13.
Chenal won a Kanna award for her production In die Woud for the best Children’s Theatre Production in 2017 (“Take a bow Chenal”, Plainsman, June 28 2017).
The Kanna awards celebrate and acknowledge creative excellence at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) and in addition to In die Woud, Chenal also had Cindershoeler staged at the KKNK in 2017.
Mama is a character piece, that Chenal is very attached to. “This is my alter-ego,” she told the Plainsman. “I get a heightened energy when I play this character. When I went to Liverpool with Jeremeo Le Cordeur, we explored this character a little more.”
Explaining the purpose of the trip, she said: “We went to Liverpool to represent Artscape and learn more about our craft. The Artscape Theatre Centre, in partnership with Brouhaha International in Liverpool, recruited Jeremeo and I, emerging artists, to represent South Africa in Liverpool to participate in the European Voluntary Service exchange programme.” (“Artists to represent SA in Liverpool” Plainsman, September 19, 2018).
In Liverpool, she and Jeremeo performed Mama as a five-minute piece after which they decided to develop it for the Artscape stage.
She had the opportunity to show Mama in Liverpool in a five minute piece, and collaborated with Jeremeo. “As an artist it is hard work, you need to be willing to put in the time and effort,” she said.
When she was in Grade 10, she said, her drama teacher at Cedar High School of Arts, Peter Braaf, tasked the class with researching their identity and heritage. It was information gathered through this exercise, that was the creative spark for Mama.
Mama will be performed at 7.30pm during its run. It is a character-piece directed by Jeremeo Le Cordeur, showcased through poetry and physical theatre, choreographed by Alfonzo Freemantle and Yaseen Manuel, that focuses on the Afrikaaps dialect.
Tickets are R45 each.
