BWW Reviews: VOICES MADE NIGHT Ignites the Passions of the Heart

'Our passions are kindled when the fuse to our heart is lit.' This is the sentence that opens Mia Couto's volume of short stories, EVERY MAN IS A RACE, one of the volumes of short stories upon which Magnet Theatre's VOICES MADE NIGHT is based. The words are an accurate description of what happens during this production, which is both a revival and revisal of one of Magnet Theatre's many physical theatre productions, their take on the physical theatre movement being not one which replaces words with a physical text, but one which - as outlined by director Mark Fleishman in his programme notes - opens up meaning and the experience of live theatre by manipulating the relationship between words and movement on stage.

I first saw VOICES MADE NIGHT in 2001 at - I think - the Artscape Theatre. I remember very little about the production itself, other than the sense that the stories were performed evocatively, that the performance was a nucleus of energy in the midst of a voluminous stage space and that there were a series of beautifully designed slides that were projected in and around the performance. This re-worked production is still evocative, all the more so for the more intimate stage space at the Baxter Flipside, and without the slides. The world that Magnet Theatre has made out of Couto's stories feels so much more accessible this time around, with the journey to that world beginning as soon as you cross the threshold of the performance space, walking down a path of soft dark sand across the space to your seat.

At that point, the performers are caught in a place between conception and birth, pulsating with life and breath. A writer (Richard September) sits at his desk and the figures stir into action, fighting for a space on the page and, of course, on the stage and in the audience's collective imagination. The performance then shifts through a number of Couto's stories, with each of the performers taking on characters from the tales and otherwise functioning as a chorus.

The stories themselves run the gamut of human experience, with styles ranging from magical realism to the absurd. My favourites were the tale of the tragic hunchback, "Rosa Caramella" (with the titular character portrayed so beautifully and sensitively by Jennie Reznek) and the amusing account of "The Ex-Future Priest and his Would-Be Widow Wife" (with a witty and winning performance from Chiminae Ball as Anabela contrasting the understated and moving turn by Thando Doni as Benjamim).

Faniswa Yisa pulls off a comic hat trick with three of her roles in the play, a woman who is investigating a possible curse on her husband in "The Talking Raven's Last Warning", a witch who intervenes in the aforementioned tale of Anabela and Benjamim and an old woman whose husband plans to see her off in the best possible circumstances in "The Fire". As the husband in "The Fire", Mfundo Tshazibane is both hilarious and touching, also having been similarly effective as an old man who lends out his shoes (in the original Couto texts, a story with its seed inside the story of "Rosa Caramella"). Dann-Jacques Mouton offers both comedy and pathos to the audience in diverse roles such as an Indian man in search of his stolen suit in "The Talking Raven's Last Warning" and a tortured husband who believes that his wife might be a witch in "So You Haven't Flown Yet, Carlota Gentina?"

Although each member of the cast stands out in their individual roles, what makes VOICES MADE NIGHT come together is their flawless work as an ensemble. The sense of give-and-take, of listening and responding, is second to none in this company.

The thing about VOICES MADE NIGHT is that it becomes more and more engrossing as it continues. The details of first story almost pass you by as you tune into the montaged nature of the piece and the special marriage of physical and linguistic texts that is both a motif and point of exploration in Magnet Theatre's body of work. Fleishman has crafted a piece that is rich in physical imagery without casting aside Couto's expressive texts: phrases in both languages linger in the mind after the stories been told.

The sense of collage also feeds into other aspects of the production. The original score, composed by Neo Muyanga, is skilfully threaded into the action, manipulating the rhythms of the piece. Illka Louw's costumes communicate a sense of character as well as playing into the sense of collage with the layers of costume pieces that are added and taken away as the actors move from story to story. Craig Leo's set design draws together diverse traditions of scenic design, with the artificial flat walls, carefully chosen authentic pieces of furniture and natural elements such as the soil that litters the stage. Read together, all these elements enable VOICES MADE NIGHT to tell a story of Africa and the diverse, collaged history and way of life that characterises this continent: 'pieces of a story, torn pieces like our lives: you can join the bits but you can never complete the picture.'

There are only a few more performances of VOICES MADE NIGHT at the Baxter Flipside, with this run of the production coming to an end on 23 March. Go with an open spirit, ready to kindle your passions when the play ignites the fuse of your heart.

Photo credit: Mark Wessels