Magnet Theatre is a high profile physical theatre company that has been operating in and out of South Africa for the past 20 years. As a company, they are on the cutting edge. Foregrounding the language of the body, they create exciting, innovative and sophisticated African theatre which engages with the present condition in South Africa. Their work is highly regarded by the press, audiences and award structures in South Africa.
"EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY, I AM WALKING"
Photos: Mark Wessels
EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY, I AM WALKING was made 2 years ago in response to the developing crisis facing refugees in South Africa. This crisis has, recently continued to grow and intensify with explosive consequences throughout the country. Now, more than ever, the story needs to be told and witnessed. South Africa alone is host to displaced foreign nationals from Somalia, Angola, the DRC, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Eritrea and more recently from Zimbabwe. They are people who have a well-founded fear of individual persecution or as a result of generalized human rights violations or armed conflict, are forced to flee their country of origin.
EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY, I AM WALKING traces the story of a young refugee in Africa who loses family and home brutally and irrevocably and is forced to journey to a new place through many dangers and uncertainties. It is a piece about dislocation, about what home means, abut Africa, about loss and about the first tentative steps towards healing and recovery.
EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY, I AM WALKING is an important moving contemporary story told through evocative physical images and music, celebrating the ability of human beings to heal and regain a sense of dignity and identity through the power of the imagination.
Cast: Jennie Reznek y Faniswa Yisa.
Music by: Neo Muyanga.
Directed by: Mark Fleishman.
Appropriate for:13 years and older.
Duration: 70 mins.
Style / Language: Physical Theatre with a small amount of text in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and French.
EVERY YEAR, EVERY DAY I AM WALKING is Magnet Theatre's latest creation. It was influenced by the creative workshops run by Judith Rudakoff of York University and Mark Fleishman as part of the Common Plants Project – a collaborative creative process exploring notions of home with people in South Africa and Canada. In the creation of the play Magnet Theatre was also inspired by The Suitcase Stories - a book that was produced as part of a creative therapy process with refugee children initiated by Glynis Clacherty in Johannesburg.
The piece was commissioned by the African Festival for Children and Young people in Yaoundé, Cameroon where it was performed in November 2006 and was very well received. It has performed on the Main Festival of the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown, South Africa, at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, in Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Most recently it performed at the London International Festival of Theatre in London (LIFT). The production receives standing ovations wherever it performs.
Photos: Mark Wessels
EXCERPTS FROM THE PRESS:
• “Creative sorcery: Simplicity is the key to this profoundly moving tale about loss and survival. Exquisite.”
Adrienne Sichel, Argus Tonight.
• “Powerful drama beautifully portrayed. Settle in to witness a different type of theatre.”
Brett Adkins, The Herald.
• “Expect to be transformed.”
Anton Krueger, Cue.
• “The optimum use of a space set and minimal, but carefully chosen objects including the striking use of sand and actual fire, created an afternoon of theatre that surpasses anything I have seen in the West End in years.”
Marinda Botha, Die Stem, London.
MAGNET THEATRE IS SUPPORTED BY:
Other selected productions:
• Gumbo
• Living in strange lands
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