The Market Theatre Foundation in collaboration with Arts Alive International Festival 2023,Arts, Culture and Heritage Presents The 2022 Zwakala Festival Winner production Blacksmith as part of the Arts Alive International Arts Festival programme which seeks to feature an array of creative offering to activate the artistic landscape.
The 2022 Zwakala Festival winners, Thabo Ramaine and Lonwabo Bhele, bring their thought-shifting production of Blacksmith to The Market Theatre, in perfect synchrony with the spirit of Heritage Month. This theatrical experience combines mask work with the mesmerizing harmonies of a live musician, weaving the threads of ancestral resonance and awakening the legacy of our heritage.
Writer and actor, Thabo Ramaine, offers a profound insight into the essence of the play: “The name ‘Blacksmith’ is a historical concept from the original meaning that describes the one who crafts weapons and sharpens metal with fire. The title of the play is the metaphor that describes the one who sharpens the mind and creates weapons of consciousness. The communion between fire and metal becomes the key significance of the communion between African stories and the minds that conceive them.”
Under the direction of Lonwabo Bhele and rooted in the urgent need to address mental slavery among Africans, Blacksmith employs inventive mask work and a live musician to bring its powerful narrative to life. When the lights come up, a man of profound significance takes center stage, entrusted with the sacred duty of preserving a heritage born from the crucible of struggle, taking you on a voyage that delves into the depths of African History’s untold truths.