Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater: An Unmissable Performance at the Baxter
By Jess Kelly
Actress Mpume Mthombeni takes the Baxter Flipside by storm in Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater. This heart–wrenching South African play, influenced by true stories of women in a hostel in Durban, is pure brilliance and utterly life-changing.
Zenzile Maseko is a woman forgotten by the country she fought hard to free. She lives in a women’s hostel in Durban, where her family have all but forgotten her, isolated from society. After a traumatic experience with lightning as a child, Zenzile was cast out of her community, labelled as one that Impundulu (The Lightning Bird) has tainted, accused of witchcraft, and feared by all but her loving grandmother.
Through tales of remarkable resilience and strength, woven together by tears and laughter, Zenzile speaks to Nkulunkulu (God) and relays to Him the complex story of her life. Dominated by themes of hardship, guilt, and rebirth, this play tells the story of how Zenzile became an assassin for the IFP under the reclaimed name “Impundulu”, and the dreams she and the other “fire eaters” held for the future of South Africa. In stark contrast to the appreciation they dreamed of, she relays her irritation and disillusionment at never receiving a Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) house and at being declared dead by the broken Home Affairs system. In doing so, she tells an important narrative of forgotten women in post-Apartheid South Africa.
Mthombeni is absolutely captivating as Zenzile. She holds the entire audience in the palm of her hand and stirs them to laughter and tears in rapid succession. Though the entire play is a one-woman show that takes place in one setting, Mthombeni transports the audience to all the scenes of Zenzile’s life seamlessly and has them hanging on her every word.
The entire production is remarkable. Between the exquisite lighting, the sound, and Mthombeni’s acting, the audience really feels as though they are right there with Zenzile throughout her life. One of the most striking and mesmerising effects is the use of lighting to symbolise the scars on Zenzile’s back from the lightning strike.
Isidlamlilo is a tale of vengeance and mercy, force and powerlessness, memory and forgotten-ness. It stirs something powerful in the hearts of the audience—a deep compassion for South Africa coupled with a deep-seated indignation at the way things are. It is a play for South Africa, for the forgotten and the scorned, for the lonely and the resilient, for the broken and the healing. It is absolutely devastating and absolutely hilarious. It is sure to be a modern classic in South African theatre for years to come.
The must-see one-woman phenomenon that is Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater is on at the Baxter Flipside Theatre until this Saturday, 19 April. Tickets are available through Webtickets. Be prepared to give a standing ovation.