Lindiwe Matshikiza is one of the stars in Mama Thembu’s Wedding now on at the Old Zoo in Rhodes Estate.
Matshikiza has had the good fortune of coming from a home where debate has always been encouraged and her talents nurtured.
Moreover, her parents were exiles during the apartheid era so she spent the early part of her life in London. Returning to South Africa as a child and growing up in a creative milieu, she has in a sense always had to redefine who she is. There’s nothing like questioning a sense of identity to spur on the creative process.
Politics played a major role in Matshikiza’s life as her father was the writer and actor John Matshikiza and her grandfather was the musician and writer of Drum magazine fame, Todd Matshikiza (1921-1968).
“My dad was involved in all kinds of artistic circles and then I trained at the Rhodes Drama department. There was not a lot of focus on making a living out of theatre, but creatively it really was a nurturing environment.”
After leaving Rhodes, Matshikiza came to Cape Town: “I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go to my hometown Johannesburg just yet. I felt like trying out what Cape Town would be like. So I got a job in industrial theatre for six months.”
“I wanted to be by the sea and the mountains,” says Matshikiza, “but it was really good meeting Nic (Ellenbogen) and that gave me a lot of exposure to people.”
Speaking of working with the Ellenbogen family who have been deeply committed to theatre, Matshikiza says: “They have a very family-orientated way of working which is very refreshing.”
Of Mama Thembu’s Wedding she stresses that it has nothing to do with Ipi Thombi. “It’s not a sequel, or anything like that. It’s an original piece and Nic develops the play around the people in the cast. I find that a challenging way to work because it keeps you on your toes.”
Speaking about SA theatre generally, she says she would like theatre to be more part of people’s lives, adding that audiences still tend to be mainly middle-class whites.
What Matshikiza really likes about Cape Town is the outdoor life.
“The beach, the mountains, the forests. It’s an interesting place though, it doesn’t feel very African, yet there are many Africans here. Where I live in Muizenberg there are a lot of Congolese people. I’ve heard of some nasty racial conflicts between Congolese, West Africans and South Africans. And that in Cape Town which advertises itself as so cosmopolitan and diverse and yet it has so many hang-ups. There is so much debate about what it means to be African,” says Matshikiza who has travelled in Africa to countries such as the Cameroons, Tanzania and Mozambique.
“All of those countries are more African where people do things that are not affected by a European lifestyle. There are so many people from all Africa here and yet there is a lot of resentment,” says Matshikiza who, like her father, also speaks French.
“So when I meet people from French-speaking Africa, it’s a pleasant thing for both of us. In a way I know what it feels like to be the outsider.”
While studying for an honours degree at Rhodes University, Matshikiza performed in, directed and designed productions that played at the National Arts Festival.
She also portrayed the controversial Thuthula in Chris Mann’s Thuthula: Heart of the Labyrinth, directed by Janet Buckland in 2003.
# Mama Thembu’s Wedding, written and directed by Nicholas Ellenbogen, runs at the Old Zoo until January 14. Tickets cost R75 or R165 with a three-course dinner in the lion’s cages. Bookings can be made through Computicket on 083 915 8000.
Source: Wilhelm Snyman, Tonight