Rising concerns over the initiation death toll and serious injuries associated with the male rite of passage has inspired an award-winning play, Tau, which hits the boards at the National Arts Festival this week and next week.
Thabiso Rammala, 28, says he scripted a piece which honours the essence of the rite as a youth goes through a cultural and identity transition to emerge as a good man.
However, he has linked the distortion, exploitation and damage caused by unscrupulous “schools” to problems with dysfunctional families, and believes this unsavoury brew is an underlying cause of gender violence.
Throw in the issue of the central character being gay and it’s not hard to understand why the piece has sparked much conversation, and some raging controversy.
Tau comes to the Eastern Cape from playing to full houses in the Market Theatre in downtown Johannesburg.
It won the Zwakala Festival hosted by the Market Theatre in 2015, and this year won three Naledi awards for best ensemble, best original choreography, and best lighting design. It was nominated for seven Naledis.
“People came from Bloemfontein and Mpumalanga to see the show,” said Rammala.
The piece is set in a Sesotho cultural landscape, and while Rammala acknowledges that Sesotho initiation rites differ from Xhosa and Zulu rites, he is adamant that the deep issues raised by Tau are universal.
The ancient rite of “going to the mountain” takes place in an evolving social world, he said.
“Gay people go to the mountain and how do they survive?” he asks, suggesting that the play does provide some answers.
“I could not understand the deaths happening on the mountain. When 22 died on a day it was a shock. I did the work, the research, and asked what are we missing as Basotho? I asked what if men are found kissing on the mountain?
“Audiences were definitely not happy with me revealing that side of a story so important and secret to us, but they were open to having a conversation,” he said.
Actor Khothatso Mogwera said: “Actually we had a gay guy walk out because it was too much for him. He couldn’t face it.”
Rammala said some young men fresh from initiation schools also walked out, because the story “agitated them. People have said, how can we show this secret part of our culture?” says Rammala.
He also looks at the conflict between patriarchy and matriarchy. Tau’s father is an upright, traditionalist, and his mother a modern-day advocate of the emancipation of women.
Rammala and peformer Mogwera, who plays Tau, are proud that their art is educative.
“People are happy there’s a play like this on so that if you are told you are ready to go to the mountain (and you have seen the play) you will know how to behave and how to tackle it.”
While there is a growing body of art and media around the problems which have blighted initiation, such as the film The Wound, the pair feel their play takes the body of work a bit further down the path, in that it looks at sexuality of initiates.
“This is the first time that this different perspective has been questioned,” said Rammala.
It also raised hackles that a woman, MoMo Matsunyane, co-directed along with Rammala.
“What does she know as a woman?” was the piercing comment they heard from some theatre-goers.
“We say sexuality is what it is, we cannot be dictated to,” he says of those who fight against sexual destiny forged by nature.
“On most nights people walked out, expecially when we got to the mountains. Many of the walkouts had come from initiation schools,” but after conversation attitudes shifted.
The even harder subject was what Rammala called was “a link” between the rite and gender violence.
Young men from dysfunctional families who enter corrupt and reckless initiation schools emerge as badly socialised men and from this, only trouble can ensue.
But despite the criticism implied in Tau, Rammala is adamant that the male ritual is essential to black culture.
Good schools will turn out responsible adults, “not hooligans, but real men” and when this happens, “then the elders have done a good job”, he says.
There is one issue which stands tall among the rest: that of personal choice.
Rammala is unyieldng in his views, saying: “To be a good man is personal. It is your choice. It will determine who you are. It is about whether you are willing to grow.”
Rammala emphasised that the biggest immediate problem was illegal schools. “They are killing the ritual and killing the culture.”
lTau is produced by One Man and his Dog productions, in conjunction with the Market Theatre Foundation and plays at the Drill Hall at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from today at 6pm, at noon, July 2 at 8pm, July 3 at 8.30pm, July 6 at noon, and July 7 at 2pm.
Controversial play elicits mixed views
Rising concerns over the initiation death toll and serious injuries associated with the male rite of passage has inspired an award-winning play, Tau, which hits the boards at the National Arts Festival this week and next week.
Thabiso Rammala, 28, says he scripted a piece which honours the essence of the rite as a youth goes through a cultural and identity transition to emerge as a good man.
However, he has linked the distortion, exploitation and damage caused by unscrupulous “schools” to problems with dysfunctional families, and believes this unsavoury brew is an underlying cause of gender violence.
Throw in the issue of the central character being gay and it’s not hard to understand why the piece has sparked much conversation, and some raging controversy.
Tau comes to the Eastern Cape from playing to full houses in the Market Theatre in downtown Johannesburg.
It won the Zwakala Festival hosted by the Market Theatre in 2015, and this year won three Naledi awards for best ensemble, best original choreography, and best lighting design. It was nominated for seven Naledis.
“People came from Bloemfontein and Mpumalanga to see the show,” said Rammala.
The piece is set in a Sesotho cultural landscape, and while Rammala acknowledges that Sesotho initiation rites differ from Xhosa and Zulu rites, he is adamant that the deep issues raised by Tau are universal.
The ancient rite of “going to the mountain” takes place in an evolving social world, he said.
“Gay people go to the mountain and how do they survive?” he asks, suggesting that the play does provide some answers.
“I could not understand the deaths happening on the mountain. When 22 died on a day it was a shock. I did the work, the research, and asked what are we missing as Basotho? I asked what if men are found kissing on the mountain?
“Audiences were definitely not happy with me revealing that side of a story so important and secret to us, but they were open to having a conversation,” he said.
Actor Khothatso Mogwera said: “Actually we had a gay guy walk out because it was too much for him. He couldn’t face it.”
Rammala said some young men fresh from initiation schools also walked out, because the story “agitated them. People have said, how can we show this secret part of our culture?” says Rammala.
He also looks at the conflict between patriarchy and matriarchy. Tau’s father is an upright, traditionalist, and his mother a modern-day advocate of the emancipation of women.
Rammala and peformer Mogwera, who plays Tau, are proud that their art is educative.
“People are happy there’s a play like this on so that if you are told you are ready to go to the mountain (and you have seen the play) you will know how to behave and how to tackle it.”
While there is a growing body of art and media around the problems which have blighted initiation, such as the film The Wound, the pair feel their play takes the body of work a bit further down the path, in that it looks at sexuality of initiates.
“This is the first time that this different perspective has been questioned,” said Rammala.
It also raised hackles that a woman, MoMo Matsunyane, co-directed along with Rammala.
“What does she know as a woman?” was the piercing comment they heard from some theatre-goers.
“We say sexuality is what it is, we cannot be dictated to,” he says of those who fight against sexual destiny forged by nature.
“On most nights people walked out, expecially when we got to the mountains. Many of the walkouts had come from initiation schools,” but after conversation attitudes shifted.
The even harder subject was what Rammala called was “a link” between the rite and gender violence.
Young men from dysfunctional families who enter corrupt and reckless initiation schools emerge as badly socialised men and from this, only trouble can ensue.
But despite the criticism implied in Tau, Rammala is adamant that the male ritual is essential to black culture.
Good schools will turn out responsible adults, “not hooligans, but real men” and when this happens, “then the elders have done a good job”, he says.
There is one issue which stands tall among the rest: that of personal choice.
Rammala is unyieldng in his views, saying: “To be a good man is personal. It is your choice. It will determine who you are. It is about whether you are willing to grow.”
Rammala emphasised that the biggest immediate problem was illegal schools. “They are killing the ritual and killing the culture.”
lTau is produced by One Man and his Dog productions, in conjunction with the Market Theatre Foundation and plays at the Drill Hall at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from today at 6pm, at noon, July 2 at 8pm, July 3 at 8.30pm, July 6 at noon, and July 7 at 2pm.
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