SS Mendi: Dancing the Death Drill, which featured from this month as part of Brisbane Festival is based on the book by Fred Khumalo, and is an emotionally commanding music and theatre performance inspired by the real-life traffic maritime tragedy. The S.S Mendi was a British passenger steamship that sunk in February 1917 due to a reckless captain and caused the death of 646 people, most of whom were black South African troops. Mendi had departed from Cape Town carrying 823 men of the 5th Battalion the South African Native Labour Corps to serve in France as volunteers, most them had never seen the sea before this voyage and very few could swim and by the morning of the 21st of February the Mendi collided with a cargo ship amid thick fog in the English Channel and sank.
When I entertained QPAC’s Playhouse Theatre I was surprised to see the cast members already onstage conversing with one another subtly doing little activities such as one character sitting up front on a chair braiding a long piece of rope with knots. “This is our lament for the souls of the dead, to bring them peace” performer Zamile Gantana informs the crowd as a swell of beautiful soulful harmony descends upon the audience’s ears. Delicate marimba compliments the full choir as individually actors step forward in a role call of their real African names and then the English names forced on them by the white man. The role of the white man exchanges between the African cast members by wearing a white business shirt, the shirt is frequently passed between members and always accepted reluctantly and rather humorously.
On each side of the stage are three marimbas and a small collection home made instruments such as a plastic bottle with possibly rice in it, or a bucket with water being sloshed with a stick to make the sounds of the ocean, however the most impressive instruments used to convey bird sounds, or trains is through the actor’s voices via harmoniously layered sounds and or whistles. The stage that is designed like the deck of a wooden ship on a slant towards the audience with only occasional props such as the white shirt or a shovel being used otherwise its purely the powerful ensemble using all their range from expressions, dance moves and vocal harmonies to convey the story telling.
Directed by Mark Dornford-May and merged with Lungelo Ngamlanas choreography and Mandisi Dyantyis’s musical direction, collectively they have made an incredibly moving and powerful performance. The abuse by colonial authorities to these men and woman is what drives the story, as they suffer from dehumanisation through unjust punishments or undermining the men through emasculation when told they cannot participate in the war with guns as they are not equal, but merely needed to dig trenches. There are some interesting characters throughout the performance such as an opinionated priest however it is the side story of a teenage boy who is told his presence brings bad luck and is neglected of food that brings on one of the stories darkest moments.
There are moments of humour and visual gags scattered throughout the performance such as a meta-theatrical joke about a smoke machine, or off the cuff comments about the audience or an actor telling another cast member off stage that can play the white man for a bit as he isn’t doing much at the moment. At only 85 minutes the performance goes quick but it is packed full of thrilling performances and vivid music that allows the audience to be engrossed in the story and heavy emotion that comes along with it.
For a story that many never heard about, this performance can at least let the souls of the S.S Mendi have their story told once and for all.
5 - 7 Sept
QPAC, Playhouse Theatre
Brisbane Festival
By: Thomas Harrison