The tumultuous life of Nelson Mandela's ex-wife is to be brought to the stage, writes David Smith
CARMEN, TOSCA and Madame Butterfly have all received the treatment. So has Jerry Springer. Why not, then, the tragic heroine of South Africa in Winnie – the Opera?
The tumultuous life story of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela and flawed icon of the struggle against racial apartheid, is to be told in an opera at South Africa’s state theatre.
Publicity for the show, which receives its world premiere in Pretoria next April, reads: “She gave voice to a time. She gave voice to a place. She gave voice to a people. Love her or hate her . . . but come and hear her.”
It is believed to be the first opera fully composed and orchestrated in South Africa. The historic language of the form, Italian, will be jettisoned in favour of a libretto combining English and Xhosa, with a 60-piece orchestra performing a fusion of western and traditional African music.
While an opera about Nelson Mandela might risk hagiography, his former wife’s life invites greater moral ambiguity. During the apartheid era, she was convicted of kidnapping the 14-year-old activist Stompie Moeketsi, who was later murdered. She separated from Mandela in 1992 after details of her infidelity emerged. In 2003, she was convicted of more than 40 charges of fraud, although her prison sentence was suspended on appeal.
For many, however, she remains a lodestar of opposition to the apartheid government and, now an MP, is still regularly introduced by ANC officials as “the mother of the nation”.
Warren Wilensky, the producer and librettist of the opera, said of her story: “I don’t think it gets any better. When you get into it, you can see she is the perfect operatic character. The high and lows of her life are too big for a normal dramatic story. It has to be an opera.” He promised a warts-and-all portrait, adding: “It’s not about a grand heroine, it’s about real life and humanity.”
Wilensky said the opera opened with a barrage of accusations against Madikizela-Mandela at the post-apartheid truth and reconciliation commission, with the international media in the role of a Greek chorus. She recounts how her life has led up to this moment.
But one character who does not appear is Mandela. “We thought he would overpower the story,” Wilensky said. “In one line she asks, ‘Nelson, where are you?’ That’s a theme throughout – where is Nelson? But it’s Winnie’s story.” He added that Madikizela-Mandela was “humbled” when told about the show and had given it her blessing.
Winnie – the Opera,composed by Bongani Ndodana-Breen and directed by US-based Shirley Jo Finney, reflects a surge of cultural interest in Madikizela-Mandela.
Earlier this year, the British actress Sophie Okonedo played her in the BBC drama Mrs Mandela,and next year the Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson takes the title role in the movie Winnie. – (Guardian service)