Catch House of Hunger on Durban stage
DUT presents a riveting new stage adaptation of one of the most important works of literature to come out of Africa, House of Hunger at the Courtyard Theatre this week.
A ground-breaking new stage adaptation of the award-winning novella The House of Hunger will be staged by the DUT Drama Department outside the Courtyard Theatre at Steve Biko Campus from 12 to 16 May.
The story by iconic Zimbabwean writer, Dambudzo Marechera is adapted for stage by Roel Twijnstra who also directs the production in collaboration with Jerry Pooe as musical director.
Dambudzo Marechera rose above his deeply troubled early life in Vhengere Township, Rusape, Zimbabwe, to become one of the most important creative voices of the Southern African diaspora over the past half century. His explosive novella, The House of Hunger, published in 1978, recalls his growing up in colonial Rhodesia.
Told in exquisitely crafted prose, the author touches his readers’ nerve ends through his harrowing evocation of life dominated by white settlers, while highlighting the disillusionment of a young black man, and the attendant individual suffering in the 1960s and 70s. His raw, piercing writings secured Marechera his place in African literature as a stylistic innovator and rebel mouthpiece of the ghetto conditions that prevailed in his homeland during his childhood. The author successfully navigates his rocky terrain with stabs of angry humour, adding to his creative compass, themes of madness, violence, despair and survival which is captured in the production by Twijnstra.
In bringing Marechera’s most acclaimed work to the stage, Twijnstra says he and Pooe have tried to honour the celebrated writer. “The House of Hunger is one of the most important texts to emerge from Southern Africa in recent decades. While it is emotionally gripping and verbally pyrotechnic, its narrative is characterized by shifts in time and place and a blurring of fantasy and reality. We have echoed this device in our stage adaptation by keeping the action non-specific with regards to the period and place.”
“We have chosen to break the mould of traditional theatre productions, and to conjure the unexpected or disruptive impact of Marechera’s writing by staging the piece along the lines of an edgy, high camp fashion show with music, dance and drama melded into the mix, in which the performers ‘strut their stuff’ on a ramp, erected outside DUT’s Courtyard Theatre, while the audience stand by, looking in on the action being enacted before them,” concluded Twinjstra.
The House of Hunger is the latest in a series of dramatic adaptations of important African literature that Twijnstra and Pooe have produced for South African stages. It follows their 2011 adaptation of Zakes Mda’s novel, Madonna of Excelsior; a dramatization of Ben Okri’s Famished Road, and last year’s staging of Peter Abrahams’ novel, Mine Boy. “Our long term aim is to present African stories for an African audience. To this end, we plan to tour each production to other African countries, once they have been staged in South Africa.”
Featuring spectacular costumes designed by Philisiwe Twijnstra, The House of Hunger will be performed by second and third year DUT drama students. Daily performances are at 6pm. Call 031 373 2194 or email lebohangs@dut.ac.za to book. Tickets are also available at the door.
