What the fork?

Photo by Des Schirlinger

Photo by Des Schirlinger

Photo by Des Schirlinger

Photo by Des Schirlinger

Photo by Des Schirlinger

As the lights come on, a door is illuminated in the centre of the stage. From the beginning, dramatic tension is created, as an actor kneels in front of the door and talks about a childhood dream.
Door, a collaboration between Ubom! actors and Danish director, Jori Snell, of Baba Yaga Theater, was performed at the Rhodes Box Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights.
The audience kept expecting a profound revelation - but doors were closed in our faces, just as secrets were about to be shared.
The play was an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Before the Law, and forced audience members to inscribe their own meanings into the abstract and multi-layered dimensions of the play.
The visual elements throughout the play were very striking, with four portable doors racing around the stage, actors being denied access through certain doors and allowed through others. An overhead projector was cleverly used to project textures of bubble plastic, hair and forks, among others, on to the scene.
The climax of the play was a dramatic moment of letting go.
With childlike enthusiasm, actress Ilana Cilliers started to play with forks. She started amusing herself by throwing the forks into the air, and ended with her hurling forks at the other actors. Even the director, sitting in the audience, flinched as each fork narrowly missed seriously injuring another actor.
Appealing further to the imagination were the quirky sound-effects, rich singing, humorous moments, elements of physical theatre, dances and graffiti.
For English audience members, perhaps some of the context of the play was lost with the use of isiXhosa and Afrikaans; however, the visual imagery said it all.

Published on front page of Grocott's Mail on 22 March 2011.