The premise for last night’s opera was most promising: a modern day hero’s remarkable and eventful life set to song, music and dance. Produced by the Cape Town Opera, the cast of over 60 South African performers delivered an entertaining, highly energetic show about South Africa’s most famous man.
Crossing freely between the genres of contemporary opera and musical the music of The Mandela Trilogy was composed by Peter Louis Van Dijk and Mike Campbell with Michael Williams as librettist. While the title gave the clue that this work focussed on three distinct periods in Mandela’s life (boy, lawyer, old man), Williams’ libretto didn’t succeed in escaping the pull of the linear narrative, resulting in a lack of an overarching dramatic tension. What was much more satisfying was the way in which Williams (who directed as well) managed to bring many of the complexities of the protagonist’s character to the fore as it evolved throughout the opera. However, the third act's climaxes (the courtroom and his eventual release) fell flat as the action felt hurried in order to fit in all the events of this nonagenarian. The music too lacked an overall cohesion, a not unsurprising result of having two composers involved. At times, the music felt like a pastiche (particularly the Xhosa songs), while the change in Act II to the jazz musical was abrupt and not hugely convincing.
The simple set by Michael Mitchell was effective and versatile. The opening scene in the prison cell was cast in a dark, bleak light while Mandela sat in a beacon of saintly white light while the stairs upstage acted as an exit to prison and an entrance to his tribal life in Mvezo. Both the Odin Cinema and the dance club of the second act conjured up vividly 1950s life in Sophiatown. The backdrop of stills and videos of the South Africa in which Mandela grew up in were more a distraction than a helpful prop. The choreography of Sibonikalise Ndaba in the first two acts was particularly impressive which featured energetic traditional dances, lissom jazz-steps and not a little gymnastic gyrating and jumping about the stage from the Cape Town chorus.
The three Mandelas gave depth to their character, each one portraying a different side to the great man: the courage and pride of the youth; the philandering politician of the middle man; the nobility and regret of the old Mandela. The work opens with the elderly Mandela, Mandla Mndebele, in prison who sang of freedom in a sonorous, rich bass voice. Mndebele captured the anguish perfectly in Act III as he wondered if sacrificing his family for politics was worth it. Mandela the youth, Thato Machona, sang in a pleasing voice and demonstrated an abundant supply of energy in his initiation ceremony. The middle Mandela played by Peace Nzirawa oozed charm and oomph throughout Act II though his singing was the least convincing of the three both in terms of timbre and projection.