The Mother of all Eating returns to the stage
Contemporary and highly creative theatre directors Khayelihle Dom Gumede and Phala Ookeditse Phala tackle a 30-year-old timeless play, The Mother of All Eating, written by prolific playwright Zakes Mda.
The play will be staged at the Market Theatre as part of the 45-year celebration from March 16 to April 11.
More about the play
Mda’s satirical masterpiece set in Maseru, Lesotho (and first performed at the Sechaba Hall of the Victoria Hotel in Maseru in 1992), explores the debilitating culture of corruption and greed known as ‘eating’.
A culture which has become synonymous with corrupt state officials who enrich themselves by abusing government funds.
Although The Mother of All Eating is over 30 years old, it remains as tragically relevant today as when it was first staged. Mda meticulously penned a seminal take on how systemised corruption becomes normalised and embedded, how it imposes a steep cost on society, easily dwarfing that of street crime.
He reveals how an emphasis on the individual as an evildoer misses the point that systems and individuals are mutually reinforcing.
Mda’s timeless classic centres on a character called The Man, the principal secretary to a government minister. The Man is corrupt to the core and has enriched himself as he has moved through the ranks of government. The play exposes the catastrophic effects of greed and the tragic effects that accompany unchecked corruption.
Willfully performed by South African legends Vusi Kunene and Thulani Nyembe, this contemporary take is an exhibition of every facet of the classic stage actor.
A visual and narrative feast that will have audiences confounded by ironic laughter and melancholic reflection as the play peals away at the disease and dis-ease of the global themes of greed, corruption and classism.
While the play is a triumph on stage, it speaks to our fundamental failure to heed the warnings and lessons etched in the classic narrative of the abuse of power.
Gumede has had the great fortune of directing over a dozen professional productions for the stage include award-winning production Crepuscule, co-director of Milk and Honey and co-directing of acclaimed Tsotsi: The Musical.
He was also the theatre curator for the inaugural season of The Centre for The Less Good Idea founded by William Kentridge. He is also an internationally published academic and playwright.
Phala is the animateur at The Centre for the Less Good Idea, an interdisciplinary incubator space for the arts based in Maboneng, Johannesburg. He is a multi-award-winning storyteller in the form of a theatre-maker and director whose works have won awards in South Africa, USA, Czech Republic and Australia.
There is no silver bullet for fighting corruption. South Africa has been riddled with corruption scandals since the days of apartheid to the current dispensation.
The current inquiries into State Capture and PPE misappropriation illustrate the insurmountable financial mismanagement and corruption that cripples the government’s capability to deliver services to its citizens.
Buy your tickets
Plays on Tuesdays to Saturdays start at 6pm and on Sundays at 3pm.
Tickets for Tuesday to Thursday are R90 per person, Friday to Saturday R150 per person and R130 per person on Sundays.
To make block bookings, contact Anthony Ezeoke on 011 832 1641 (ext 203) or 083 246 4950.
