Serurubele written and performed by Katleho Kano Shoro and directed by Nondimiso Msimanga, is set to showcase on Saturday 15 September 2018. The showcase will be hosted by Emakhaya Theatre, University Corner 19th Floor, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Shoro is a Johannesburg-based performance poet, academic, and author. She has performed in South Africa, Zimbabwe, London, and Chicago. On Serurubele she collaborates with established and celebrated writer Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga who is formerly a lecturer at the Wits School of Arts.
“I want to celebrate the One Year Anniversary since the launch of #Serurubele and everyone who has been part of its journey. The staging allows for Serurubele to exist in a different form, as live performance in a more holistic way, since in thinking about resonance, I know that not everybody connects with words on a page.”
Kano states, she continues to say, “This production is about growth, commitment, courage and possibilities. I have been feeling like I have come to the point where I need to stretch myself and embody performance a lot more. I know what I can do. Serurubele is, therefore, the beginning of exploring what I don’t know I can do within poetry and performance.”
Serurubele is Katleho Kano Shoro’s first one-woman show – following her debut collection of poetry. Directed by Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga, it is a feast of images and sounds to the words of a black butterfly.
Why Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga as a director?
“First day we had a meeting, she looked me in the eyes, relentlessly asked me questions about my work that I thought I knew the answers to and when I offered ready-made answers and my eyes welled with frustration and overwhelm, she held my gaze and the questioning without flinching,” she says. She describes this moment as the one that sealed the deal for her and sparked curiosity about Ndumiso’s process.
“And I respected how unafraid she was of my emotions…how unafraid she is of emotion. The way she listens and reflects me back to me energises me and how I look at my own work (and all the nuances and experiences that feed it),” she concludes.
What can we expect from the show?
The poetry production is deeply grounded in questions of navigating a shifting African landscape whilst trying to express the work of coming into your own being, in your own mind and body, an expression of a spirit at the different stages of learning the power of its flight. It is poetry that softly singes with its questions about belief in ourselves, in our causes, and in our higher powers.
Kano’s words bounce between her Sesotho mother-tongue and the English learned tongue to bring our Gods into sharp perspective. All the while, celebrating the freedom to ask questions.
Tickets are available at R100 each, with a discount of R50 for students and those with copies of Serurubele. For bookings email bookings@currentstate.co.za and contact phakathi@currentstate.co.za for more information.
Follow @Kano_Serurubele for instant updates.
Check out her performance of Sehopotso at Current State Of Poetry in 2017.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=33TIN-gp0z4%2520frameborder%3D0%2520allow%3Dautoplay%3B%2520encrypted-media%2520allowfullscreen