Title: Die Moeder
With: Sandra Prinsloo, Dawid Minnaar, Ludwig Binge, Ashley de Lange, Charl Fölscher
A Toyota US Woordfees production
Originally supported by NATi
Director and translator: Christiaan Olwagen
Author: Florian Zeller
Set and costume design: Birrie le Roux
Lighting design: Wolf Britz
Soundtrack: Loki Rothman
Stage management: Elana-Marie Snyman
I am not entirely sure what happened in Die moeder. Let me clarify: nobody is entirely sure what actually happens in Die moeder. The play is constructed of multiple sections acted and re-enacted in different variations, starting at different points and leading to different conclusions. It’s slightly like building a puzzle, except that we’re not sure how many of these pieces are part of the final picture or what the final picture is. Not only is it a superbly acted performance, it is also a genuinely fresh and new way of making theatre. It is a unique script and it needs an equally unique approach. Christiaan Olwagen definitely brought an out-of-the-box vision to life. The marriage of stage and screen that is achieved with livestream footage projected during the performance allows one to observe both simultaneously close up and from afar. This is both emotionally moving and artistically brilliant.
Die moeder is the story of empty nest syndrome taken to the extreme. Sandra Prinsloo leads the cast in one of the most compelling performances of her career – and that is saying something. The role is so central to everything that happens that the supporting cast truly orbit around her. In fact, we are never quite sure whether the characters are really there or not. Their actions throughout may all be figments of her imagination. Is she crazy, has she overmedicated to the point where she is hallucinating, or are we in fact viewing multiple realities that have all taken place in one alternate reality or another? That question remains unanswered. What we do know is that Anna is lonely and sad and feels abandoned. Her children have flown the coop and her husband is barely ever there. Robbed of her very reason for living, she takes refuge in alcohol, self-medicates, and messages her favourite child (played by Ludwig Binge) repeatedly, hoping that he will return home.
What we don’t know is whether or not he actually does. Perhaps he and his girlfriend (Ashley de Lange) have finally broken up and he returned home in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s finally over and Anna is rid of the woman who stole her son’s affection and dared challenge her right to love him. Or maybe Elodie shows up on their doorstep and begs him to take her back. Or maybe she’s stopped in the attempt. Meanwhile, Anna’s husband (Dawid Minnaar) is off at a seminar. Or is he, in fact, off with his mistress? Either way, he is gone for four days, and in that time Anna spirals out of control. Whether it is the result of events, fights and real interactions or the consequence of neglect and longing, we do not know. We do not know who is with her or whether she is even conscious by the end. The way these scenes unravel more and more seem to suggest that she has moved past a point from which she can recover.
What truly stood out about Sandra Prinsloo’s performance was the completely effortless embodiment of every moment and every emotion. I loved her slow deterioration and the way it settled through her entire body. It was a masterclass in acting. The other cast members gave solid performances. The ability to be selfless and giving on stage is often undervalued. It is by putting all their attention and energy on Anna that the rest of the actors remain truly present and play their roles to the fullest. A special mention must be made of Charl Fölscher for not only doing brilliant camera work, but also moving around the stage in such an unobtrusive way. A camera on stage works only if it does not disrupt what is actually happening onstage. Instead, he managed to become an external viewer – a mirror, as it were. The filming was done only at certain moments, when it could offer a new and insightful angle or magnify an emotional reaction in a way that caught the audience by surprise. If this had been used throughout, it would have become overwhelming or just overused. Instead, moments were carefully chosen, and it always added value.
The set was extremely realistic at the start of the play, but became more chaotic and broken as the play progressed. It paralleled Anna’s own mental decline, and I wondered whether perhaps the entire space was not inside her mind. The music is one of my favourite aspects of the performance, with Cass Elliot’s “Make your own kind of music” repeated throughout. It is quite amazing how a song can take on new meanings in each different context, and a few times the music was what pulled me back in when tiredness and information overload threatened. And I did, at times, find myself overwhelmed – I found this play extremely disturbing, and I struggled to place my finger on the reason. Perhaps it was because we all have mothers and we all have to leave our mothers. It is part of growing up, and as the script says repeatedly: children have lives. Or maybe it was simply the universal fear of being forgotten and dying alone that hits so close to home. Or perhaps it was the almost imperceptible cruelty that lies in how these characters interact and cut at each other with words – like only family can. Probably it was a combination of all these things.
I am sure there are audience members who find this too experimental. Or too tech-heavy. Or too open-ended. But theatre does not evolve if we do not take risks. And theatre must evolve. I truly believe that all theatre will remain relevant. That a classical approach will never completely lose its audience. But if we look at the history of theatre, it has never been stagnant. New genres, conventions and styles are constantly being added and sometimes mixed together. This is how we keep pushing the envelope. And this is why, love it or hate it, Die moeder is undeniably groundbreaking theatre. Because it is not a copy of anything, but an original and unapologetic production.
- All photographs: Nardus Engelbrecht
The post Die Moeder: a review | Toyota US Woordfees 2023 first appeared on LitNet.
The post <i>Die Moeder</i>: a review | Toyota US Woordfees 2023 appeared first on LitNet.