Universal tale

Once more to Hull for this week’s Culture, a return trip for which no apology is made.

A huge installation right in the heart of the city, a series of plays, one of which, by the inspirational Slung Low, was seen on BBC2: Hull is taking its moment in the spotlight and, in the modern vernacular, smashing it out of the park.

The UK’s City of Culture continues to defy the naysayers and stage one of the most staggeringly brilliant and vibrant years of culture in the north of the country seen in years.

The quality continues next week as Hull Truck Theatre, the beating heart of the theatrical body of the city for several decades, brings a UK premiere to these shores.

The Suitcase is a South African story brought to the UK by a partnership working together for the first time. Hull Truck is joining with theatres in Newcastle, Derby, Lancaster and Liverpool to work with the Market Theatre Johannesburg and tour The Suitcase across the North of the country. Based on a short story by African writer Es’kia Mphahlele, The Suitcase is adapted and directed by James Ngcobo.

Based on a true story, The Suitcase is set in 1950s South Africa and tells the story of a newly married young couple who leave their rural village and disapproving family for the city of Durban. Their hope is to return home rich and free, but they find themselves alienated and unemployed in the big city.

Desperate to provide for his pregnant young wife, Timi steals a suitcase left behind on a bus, without knowing what is inside, it is an act of madness with frightening consequences.

Based in Johannesburg, the Market Theatre is known internationally as the Theatre of the Struggle, challenging as it did the apartheid regime and acting as a powerful voice for freedom and emancipation.

The decision to tour the show was inspired by Hull Truck’s visit to South Africa in 2015, when artistic director Mark Babych and director of engagement and learning Jill Adamson took part in an artistic exchange.

Babych says: “It’s been a long held ambition to work with the Market Theatre Johannesburg. As a young director, they opened my eyes to the power of theatre as they battled with the human tragedy of the apartheid years – inspired by the work of Athol Fugard, Barney Simon and the breathtaking power of performers like John Kani, Winston Ntshona, Percy Mtewa and Mbongeni Ngema.

“The Market Theatre still holds a special place in my heart. It’s a dream come true to welcome this wonderful company to our city as part of our 2017 programme, and to share the UK premiere of The Suitcase across five great cities.”

It is a continuation of an impressive programme of work being brought to Hull as it celebrates 2017.

Director James Ngcobo, who also adapted the story for the stage, says: “This tour is happening this year all because of the buckets of passion that Mark Babych has brought to the idea of a piece from South Africa coming to Hull on such a landmark year for the city. We started talking and dreaming about this with Mark, I came over to visit Hull, to see the theatre, to meet his exciting team and to map out a way to make this possible. Mark came over to South Africa, he went to Grahamstown Festival and watched a lot of what we make out here.

“This visit is the gateway to the beginning of a relationship with Hull Truck Theatre, a relationship that will carry on past this tour.

“Theatres around the world have always enjoyed collaborating with other theatres that share the same passions, the same DNA, and that is the fact between Hull Truck Theatre and the Market Theatre. These are theatres that are driven by the idea of exciting and surprising their patrons.”

Alongside the work of Ngcobo, and playwright Es’kia Mphahlele, the production features the music of Grammy Award-winning South African musician Hugh Masekela, best known for the anti-apartheid songs Soweto Blues and Bring Him Back Home.

Ngcobo says: “Hugh Masekela has been an absolute gift for me; he has been my mentor. We created a work together called Songs of Migration, a collage of migration songs from around the world. We performed this piece all around South Africa then took it on tour to some international theatres: to Carre in Amsterdam, Kennedy Centre in Washington D C, and then we played the Hackney Empire in London.

“Hugh has a love for theatre, he is very passionate about storytelling and about heritage so it was easy for me, once I had composed the songs for the piece I brought him in to give the songs a period sound that emanates from where the story is set. It was when this play was chosen to open the Soweto Theatre, that I reworked the songs with him. The music is there to enhance the story and to take the narrative further.”

If anyone is left questioning the reason why a South African company performing as part of Hull’s celebrations as the UK’s City of Culture makes sense, Ngcobo has a message. “We are so excited that we are about to visit the UK with a story set in South Africa, yet anyone can relate to this universal tale of a man who wants to change his life. A man walking with a dream and how the obsession with this dream changes his life,” he says. “Whenever we perform this piece, people have always said that there are clear parallels with their own lives when they witness how Timi’s life unfolds.”

It’s another tick in the plus column for Hull in this extraordinary year.

***

Market Theatre Johannesburg was founded in 1976 by Mannie Manim and the late Barney Simon and was constructed out of Johannesburg’s Indian Fruit Market – built in 1913. The theatre went on to become internationally renowned as South Africa’s ‘Theatre of the Struggle’. With 21 international and over 300 South African theatre awards, the company continues to create work of international quality.

The Suitcase, Hull Truck Theatre, August 31 to September 9. Tickets are available from the box office on 01482 323638 or online via www.hulltruck.co.uk