Christine Crouse is in conversation with BEVERLEY BROMMERT about Cape Town Opera’s One in Three opening on 25 November 2022 at Artscape:
Ever sensitive to pressing social issues, Cape Town Opera is set to present a collage of three excerpts from opera and theatre titled One in Three (reflecting the gruesome incidence of physical and mental abuse suffered by one third of South African women).
The company’s singers will raise their beautiful collective voice in protest at this current scourge, alerting their audiences to the need for its remedy, and the date chosen for One in Three’s première at Artscape – 25 November – coincides felicitously with the global launch of 16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence.
Brought to the stage by CTO’s Artistic Director Magdalene Minnaar, who directs one of the inclusions in the programme (Marlene van Niekerk’s play, Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W); the other two pieces, both operatic, are entrusted to the highly respected Christine Crouse, who shares some of her thoughts as rehearsals proceed.
“Soul-searching and intense” is how she describes preparation for the collage as she coaxes artists through an extract from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, as well as an excerpt from the South African opera, Amagokra, both of which she has previously directed to great acclaim.
Common denominator of brutality
They feature the abuse of females in diverse ways and different environments, but with the strong common denominator of brutality inflicted by men on women. That intensity referenced by Crouse is generated by the shared experiences of the cast working with her: “They are all deeply committed and involved in this issue, having undergone abuse either directly or vicariously. The grief that results from it is felt differently by different individuals but the suffering is universal.”
Crouse remarks that this undertaking by CTO is reminiscent of pre-1994 protest theatre in South Africa, since like protest theatre, it is intended to make people aware of, and acknowledge, a shocking state of affairs. The adjective “shocking” is especially apt regarding the extract under Minnaar’s direction, as it deals with the assault and murder of an 11 year old girl, Annestacia Wiese in 2007.
À propos of Porgy and Bess, Crouse identifies the main difficulty as the need to choose the right scene given the purpose of this production. “It’s not like the challenges one faces in conventional rehearsal,” she comments. For her, the rape of Bess in the picnic episode offers the thought-provoking experience of “how easily something innocent and happy can be exploited for evil by a man”, hence its inclusion in One in Three.
She finds that her considerable familiarity with the opera helps when exploring more layers of experience.
What is portrayed on stage rings true
As for Amagokra, Sibusiso Njeza’s poignant commemoration of ordeals to which two young South African women were subjected in recent history, the director asserts that her main intention is to ensure that “what is portrayed on stage rings true,” a credible depiction of the raw emotions and pain of real-life (as opposed to fictional) people.
Another challenge is to achieve this intensity in a brief space of time, as the excerpts must be kept sufficiently short (no more than 20 minutes) to allow for keynote speakers to address the audience between each rendition.
The heart-wrenching image of ‘Woman Abused’ by craftivist Nell-Louise Pollock, the featured artist in One in Three, says it all: suffer in silence, or else…
A sobering cover for the programme.
The One in Three cast includes Nicole Holm, Nonhlanhla Yende, Mandisinde Mbuyazwe, Van Wyk Venter and members of the award-winning Cape Town Opera Chorus. Christine Crouse and Magdalene Minnaar will co-direct this production, with musical direction by Marvin Kernelle, costume design by Maritha Visagie and movement direction by Fiona du Plooy. One in three is sponsored by the Western Cape Government Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport and the National Lotteries Commission.
What: One in Three
Where and when: Artscape on Friday 25 November at 6.30pm, Saturday 26 November 2022 at 3pm.
Tickets: Cape Town Opera will be offering complimentary tickets for both One in Three concerts taking place at Artscape on Friday 25 November and on Saturday 26 November at 3pm. Those wishing to support these performances in support of GBV awareness should email rsvp@capetownopera.co.za by no later than 23 November 2022 and they will be contacted by return email. Tickets will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis. Anyone who has already bought tickets will still be able to attend, and will be refunded in due course.
Photographs: Annène van Eeden
WS
