Photo: Provided
Title: Vêr in die wêreld Kittie
With: Jenny Stead, André Terblanché, Dean Balie, Rushney Ferguson
Director, writer and music: David Kramer
Producer: Renaye Kramer, KKNK
Musicians: Nick Turner (guitar), Kerryn Torrance (violin), Yvan Potts (keyboard)
Lighting design: Ben du Plessis
Sound Design: Robert Lewis
Costumes: Widaad Albertus
Stage management: Nickus Venter
A Feesteforum production, in collaboration with David Kramer Productions, made possible by NATi
Can a story or a song belong to one person? If someone hears or sees something that inspires them and they create art from that, is it theirs? They put their name to it, seek credit for it and sell it. They “own” it, even if that idea exists in other states, in other places and in the minds of other people. I read once that ideas travel around the world looking for someone who will allow that inspiration to flow through them into a solid state. And by doing the work – and yes, this is hard work – the writer/composer/artiste has the honour of becoming the “creator”, even though there is no such thing as a completely new idea. But what if it wasn’t just inspiration or an idea – for example, if it’s an old song that has been passed on through generations, that gets revived, reworked and commercialised? That cannot mean that the person who simply translated what he received as a finished art form is now its owner. Can it?
Vêr in die wêreld Kittie is about this and much more. It is a story about a white South African Jewish man who left his country to see the world. This is Joseph Marais. He took with him a violin, a desire to stand out, and a book full of handwritten stories told to him by Koos Heuningbek (a worker on his parents’ farm who danced the riel and played the blikkitaar). He left behind his Jewish surname; his family and home; and Kittie Jaftha, his childhood friend and first love. He abandoned his own identity in favour of one that was loved and admired in Britain and America. Today, we would call it cultural appropriation. On the other hand, does anyone blame him for not wanting to be Jewish in the pre-war years? What is harder to handle is his appropriation of art, music and stories, without ever giving any true recognition to where they came from. He would argue that a small note on the first page does the trick. That is a hard argument to swallow when he is receiving enormous sums of money from this work and does not share a single cent.
Kittie describes him as a man who was always in it for his own gain. Then again, this is Kittie’s story, and we do tell things with our own subjective interpretations. She is angry and bitter because Joseph loved her and left her. And her feeling of betrayal extends to his “theft” of intellectual property. But was he really such a bad man? This is a man who followed his dreams and did not come back; a man who joined the war efforts in America and said he could not return to see his father on his deathbed because of the war; a man who later married a Jewish refugee from Amsterdam, Rosa de Miranda, with two children in tow; and a man who later became famous singing across America with his new wife and selling “his” music in Hollywood. He is a man who created a new life for himself, and maybe he truly did not see anything wrong or selfish in his choices.
Back in South Africa, Koos left home, too. He tried to find fame in Cape Town, and in some ways succeeded. He joined a band and became a musician in his own right, but never got paid his worth and struggled throughout to keep head above water. And Kittie stayed home caring for Joseph’s mother and taking on all the responsibilities he shirked.
It is easy to oversimplify good and bad. To judge a person based on one action. Obviously, Joseph Marais was not a highly moral artiste. He had no qualms in claiming all his success from songs by other people or cultures. But it is also true that what happened between him and Kittie was a love story between two teenagers in a time of racial tension – that he left to fulfil his own dreams and that he really did fall in love with Rosa. These facts do not make him blameless, but they do make him human. And perhaps they make him something of a tragic hero. A hero who returns too late. A hero who is finally faced with an opportunity to do the right thing, even if he is reluctant to place someone else’s needs ahead of his own. Will he give Kittie a chance to escape to the far-off places she has dreamed of for so long?
David Kramer has cleverly captured these contradictory aspects of humanity and morality. His use of storytelling conventions helps guide us through the story: this is the beginning, the big choice, the homecoming, the hero. We know what we are watching, and we can relax into it. It was once again a revelation how music can energise and carry an audience. The performance flew by and did not feel like 80 minutes. This was also due to the beautiful performances of Jenny Stead, André Terblanché, Dean Bale and Rushney Ferguson. A live band onstage (Nick Turner, Kerry Torrance and Yvan Potts) adds a special layer and a feeling of nostalgia. It reminded me of going to the ballet and running to the front of the auditorium to peer into the orchestra pit at the beautiful instruments. Music truly does have the power to inspire, and it can capture cultural textures in ways that nothing else can.
The mix of different types of music (on the radio, by the actors, by the band – with violins, guitars, a blikkitaar and even a mouth whistle) creates contrasts and combinations that immerse the audience in a cultural tapestry. And dancing brings the stage to vivid life. This, combined with a slightly adapted true story and some very relevant questions about art, culture, identity and ownership, is a winning recipe. Musicals remain a very moving and unique experience. When done right, the combination of different artistic forms can truly capture and elevate our emotions. With Vêr in die wêreld Kittie, David Kramer has once again brought us a must-see production.
See also:
Ver in die wêreld Kittie vra vrae by die feeste, ’n resensie
The post Vêr in die wêreld Kittie: A journey through music and stories | Toyota US Woordfees 2023 first appeared on LitNet.
The post <i>Vêr in die wêreld Kittie</i>: A journey through music and stories | Toyota US Woordfees 2023 appeared first on LitNet.