Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
ARTS guru Cont Mhlanga’s seminal play, Nansi le Ndoda, is set to grace British stages soon, as it now being translated into English by playwright and scholar Butshilo Nleya with assistance from the Writers’ Theatre in the UK, the Royal Court Theatre and renowned British theatre translator William Gregory.
Penned by Mhlanga in 1985, Nansi le Ndoda served as an introduction to Mhlanga and his Amakhosi, a troupe that was bringing theatre to and from township communities that, before that point, had little renown for it.
Nansi le Ndoda tells the story of an emerging community plagued by corruption, and nepotism in 1980s. In the play, protagonist Alibaba takes matters into his own hands when he is passed over for a job that he is qualified for in favour of Shashi’s undeserving nephew.
In 1986 the play’s initial production won five Annual National Theatre Awards, a laudable feat at a time when theatre was split along racial lines. The play has since been performed widely and adopted into the isiNdebele curriculum as a set book.
According to a statement from the arts legend, “Nleya has been in conversation with Mhlanga for at least 10 years trying to prize the script off the ‘‘Khulu’’ of theatre in Bulawayo and he feels that he is ready to take on the task of analysing, translating and producing the play for UK audiences.”
Working with Nleya on this interpretation of Mhlanga’s classic play will be Gregory, an actor turned translator with almost two decades worth of experience.
Since he started in 2003, Gregory has translated over 200 plays, many of them new works, for clients including the Royal Court Theatre, the BBC and the Gate, and for productions at the Old Vic and the Edinburg International and Fringe Festivals.
His translations of drama have been performed in the UK, US, Ireland, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Germany and Austria, and several have been published while he has also worked in other genres such as non-fiction and poetry.
In 2020 I was a finalist in the Valle-Inclán Award for literary translation from Spanish, for the Oberon Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Plays.
In his statement, Mhlanga said he would have overall oversight of the whole project.
“Support from the internationally renowned Royal Court Theatre will go a long way in making sure that the translation of the play is handled sensitively and scrutinised in the same vein.
Nleya who originally saw the play in 1997 at Embakwe High School as a teenager was encouraged recently to explore the play when he saw Workshop Negative also by Mhlanga, that was produced by Tangle Productions in the South West of the UK in 2018 featuring a stellar cast with Zimbabwe’s John Pfumojena.
The translation process which will take a few months also includes the educationalist Precious Moyo who has done a lot of work on the play with local schools and on Skyz Metro FM.
“A short extract of the translated play will be performed at the Royal Court Theatre on 26 April 2022 after which Nleya will co-ordinate a research and development process with actors, dramaturgs and designers. Plans are afoot to remount the play with a fresh cast, crew and to find a producing partner before it tours the UK and Europe into the 2023 season. Mhlanga has offered his oversight and mentorship throughout the process to realise a stage where classic Bulawayo plays are published, remounted, translated and studied locally and internationally.”