New and dynamic dance theatre work explores South African fathers
A newly created dance theatre work, Father & I, uses personal stories, dance, song, and music to explore the relationships between South African fathers and their children. This dynamic fusion of real life stories is created between the Windybrow Arts Centre’s Kwasha! Theatre Company, The Market Theatre and Moving into Dance, and will premiere over a limited season of four performances at the Market Theatre at the end of November.
The multi-award-winning Greg Homann, Artistic Director at The Market Theatre Foundation, directs this vibrant work, while Moving into Dance’s Artistic Director, Sunnyboy Motau, choreographs it. The original music that accompanies the stories is by Bongile Lecoge–Zulu.
This interdisciplinary work that combines song, dance and personal testimony creates a theatrical experience aimed at acknowledging the complexity and beauty of fatherly relationships, with all its imperfections.
In light of the concerning statistics about fatherlessness, which affects 60% of South Africa’s children, Father & I offers a warm and nuanced take at what it means to be a father in contemporary South Africa. The performance is delivered with humour, care and empathy, aimed at facilitating understanding, reconciliation and love.
Father & I is a work that appreciates that fathers are first and foremost human, and human beings are complicated.
The show aims to present a balanced and honest narrative that celebrates fathers who are “getting it right”, while rolling out a bandage to those who have been wounded by disappointment and abandonment. The artistic treatment creates an empathetic space that has the potential to lead audiences to a place of honest conversations about healing the father wound, reconciling broken families and inspiring a new generation of fathers to break an all too familiar destructive cycle.
Choreographer, Sunnyboy Motau, says the dance theatre work attempts to show fatherhood in all its complexity, especially in a country like South Africa, where the role requires added resilience, courage, vulnerability and responsibility.
Director, Greg Homann, adds, “Starting with the personal narratives of the actors and dancers involved, Father & I weaves stories of absence and presence, identity, inherited roles, support, and notions of masculinity. Each artist shares their experiences, highlighting the challenges of these bonds—the joys, the struggles, and the fatherly moments that define them. These heartfelt stories invite the audience to reflect on their own relationships with their fathers, sparking dialogue about love, belonging, the act of providing and the deep yearning for connection.”
Don’t miss this new work that will shift your perspective about fatherhood in a daringly heart-stirring way. Tickets via Webtickets start from R150.
ENDS
For enquiries, please contact Bongiwe Potelwa (Publicist at the Market Theatre Foundation) at bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za or 011 832 1641.
For reduced price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke (Audience Development) at AnthonyE@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950/081 572 9612.
