Mantlwaneng showcases beauty and beast

Mpho Tlale | Friday December 13, 2013 16:56

 

Director Aldo Brincat has taken himself and his team to task to stage the play at Westwood’s Mantlwaneng.

With the play, Brincat has managed to keep its plot intact. Instead his modifications have been fused to accommodate Botswana’s setting. His version of Beauty And The Beast has kept the theme that revolves around true love. In the performance towards the end there is a part where Beauty remarks, “True love makes a man attractive”.

Brincat’s comments about his adaptation of Beauty And The Beast are that, “We want to emphasise some gorgeous music whether old, new, local and international in this bare essence of a love story, loosely set in Botswana”.

He added that they have chosen the production as an ensemble that will explore the story in detail and choose to focus on a deconstructed kind of production. He pointed that the actors, musicians, props and sets all exposed, would reflect this.

True to his word, the play manages to fuse the different elements such as music, props, dance and costume together. The cast were an all-in-one team as they incorporated both acting and singing into their performance.

Some of the songs they sang include the famous Setswana song Chiwele, Beautiful by Christina Aguilera and Bruno Mars’ Nothing On You were sung in relation to the play’s content.  The cast also sang Mafikizolo’s Ndi Hamba Nawe, which they adapted to “Wee Beast Ndi hamba nawe“ when Beauty And The Beast finally realised their love for each other.

Music also came in the form of Andy Batshogile’s mellow keyboard that acted as the background music.

Other aspects to look out for include the costumes of the cast that were improvised. Designed by Naomi Tshweneetsile who is making a mark for herself as a theatre costume designer, the gowns hid all traces and elements that they were created from entirely recyclable material. Only when within close range is one able to pick up on that.

Beauty And The Beast has been playing on the Saturdays from November 29 to December 22 at 7pm.  The play has a double cast for the roles of Beauty, Gin, Tonic, Brilliance and Bravery, which means actors alternate the roles on the various days that the play takes place.

To date Brincat has worked on other plays that include Cinderella in 2011, Passion Play 1 in 2012, Phenyo Ke Eo in 2012 and Passion Play and Beauty And The Beast in 2013.