Isidlamlilo: The Fire Eater (Trailer)

Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater is an electrifying new one-woman show brought to life by acclaimed actor Mpume Mthombeni and theatre-maker Neil Coppen through Empatheatre.

The production has toured throughout South Africa and later this year will be touring to the Noorderzon festival in Netherlands, La Bâtie- Festival de Genèvein Switzerland and Kampnagel International Summer Festival in Hamburg, Germany.

When Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater premiered at the 2022 National Arts Festival, it was met with rave reviews and standing ovations with critics heralding it as a contemporary South African theater classic in the vein of Fugard's ‘Sizwe Banzi is Dead.’

Former artistic director of NAF Ismail Mahomed called Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater “a work of an absolutely masterful genius…...this is what world class South African theatre is about and one production that truly deserved the six minute sustained standing ovation that it received.”

While Kneo Mokgopa, Narrative Development manager at the Nelson Mandela Foundation stated that: “Isidlamlilo fills a great missing in the story of this country. It exquisitely brings to light crucial and compelling narratives about women, power and being that complicate and explain our history, all at the same time. Isidlamlilo is necessary and urgent viewing”

Coppen and Mthombeni’s play is set in a downtown womens’ hostel in Durban, where we first meet sixty-something Zenzile Maseko (Mpume Mthombeni), a grandmother partially disabled and declared dead by the Home Affairs’ decrepit system. It is within the confines of this cramped room that Zenile reckons with Nkhulukhulu (God), recalling the unbelievable series of events that have unfolded across her lifetime. Zenzile, we soon discover, operated as one of the IFP’s most feared assassins (nicknamed Impundulu/The Lightning Bird) in the build-up to the 1994 South African elections.

It is a past Zenzile has spent a majority of her adult life trying to erase, praying nightly to Nkhulukhulu and begging him to cleanse her of her past sins. But when the home affairs mistakenly declare her dead and are unable to reverse the error on their system, Zenzile finds herself cast into the middle of a Kafkaesque nightmare, forced to reawaken and embrace the vengeful spirit of Impundulu/The lightning bird in an attempt to secure her survival.

Zenzile’s story is inspired by the lives of real women living in a Durban hostel. These women were part of an oral history project on migration, gender and inclusion run by the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology. This oral history research formed the foundation of an Empatheatre production that produced powerful pieces of theatrical storytelling that were shared far beyond the confines of research publications.

It is in the richness and strength of women’s experiences that Zenzile’s story is told in Isidlamlilo. Flown in on the wings of the Impundulu (the lightning bird), harbinger of death, Zenzile’s story is a tapestry of myth, religious symbolism, and traditional beliefs as she shares the, at times brutal, at times forgiving, realities of surviving in this land.

It is a performance that touches on what it means to live with, and through, political violence, the transition to democracy, the brutality of inequality, health epidemics like HIV/AIDS, patriarchy, and the apathetic bureaucracy of government departments. It is also the story of an unimaginably formidable woman, a powerful agent in her own right, with a wicked sense of humour. Isidlamlilo reminds us that we are seldom one thing in this world. As we walk with Zenzile through her memories she reminds us of what it means to refuse to die, to refuse to be overcome.

Together Mthombeni and Coppen alongside Dylan McGarry, are the co-founders of Empatheatre which sees the team forging creative responses to complex social concerns. The company was recently awarded the prestigious 2022 Bertha Artivism Award for their theatre and social-justice work as well as the 2023 Fleur Du Cap award for innovation in South African Theatre. Empatheare has recently held performances of their productions in Egypt, Rome and New York.

Direction is by Neil Coppen, Lighting by Tina leRoux, Set by Greg King and Sound design by Tristan Horton.

Isidlamlilo was made possible by the The National Art’s Festival (NAF) and later funding from the NAC PESP fund, with additional support and thanks to the Drama department and the UFC (Urban Futures Centre) at Durban University of Technology.