Preview/interview: Lorin Sookool’s Mulato Sujo? In Cape Town 2020

What: Mulato Sujo? When: October 30, 31, Nov 1, 2020 Time: 7.30pm Where: Theatre Arts, Cape Town Tickets: R80 Bookings: https://theatrearts.co.za/Director/concept: Lorin Sookool Performer: Sumalgy Nuro Dramaturgist: Themba Mbuli Genre: Dance/performance Info: lorinsookool@gmail.com

Lorin Sookool explains the title of this exciting solo dance/performance piece as it relates to the context in Mozambique, where she has done casual and conversational research into ‘race’. Mulato “describes” a person of mixed race ancestry.” Sujo evokes something negative and be may be translated as “dirty”. So, if you use the word, mulato in Mozambique, that is acceptable but when you tag on sujo that takes on ugly resonances. Sookool was intrigued that ‘race’ tends to not be spoken about and engaged with in Mozambique. As a person of ‘mixed race’ that intrigued her as being very different to the South African energy for questioning and reflection. She decided to start a conversation, specifically using those words coupled together, to frame an interrogation into ‘mixed race’. The question mark is deliberate. We must all question identity and also be mindful of what words mean and signify. Consideration of words has become amplified in the pandemic. We have seen individuals quite rightly take offence to the way words are bandied about. A lot hinges on who is saying what and the context. This piece arose out of research that Sookool undertook in Mozambique. It is a solo work and her directorial debut.

Mulato Sujo? features Sumalgy Nuro who hails from Maputo, Mozambique. He is currently completing his studies in African Music at UCT. Sookool met him in Mozambique when she attended a dance festival, KINANI. Being in Mozambique and experiencing the dance community, Sookool was moved to apply for an ANT Mobility Grant -from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) which has become the support for this performance. The Durban born Sookool who has moved extensively around the country, working and doing residencies, decided to make Cape Town home in January 2020,. She was thrown a little off-guard by Covid. The pandemic shifted the arts landscape somewhat but she is managing to adjust and continue.

During lockdown, Sookool chatted with Sumalgy Nuro about distilling aspects from her research interests and creating a solo work for him. Sookool has staged work at Theatre Arts in the past and when the theatre collective opened up again in lockdown 1, the opportunity arose to stage Mulato Sujo? which she developed with Suma and with Themba Mbuli offering dramaturgical advice. The piece is a seed, says Sookool. It may manifest in other directions – stage, film – and with other performers.  It is about igniting a conversation, through movement and music.

Mulato Sujo? is not part of Theatre Arts Creating Theatre in the time of Corona (https://theatrearts.co.za/) but the piece taps very much into the ethos of the season –making work which is Covid friendly – in terms of pared staging – number of performers– and which gels well within the intimacy of the space and which resonates with us in this time of the pandemic when many issues are being mulled over and excavated.

Only 15 seats are available for each performance at Theatre Arts. As of going to publication, Thursday, October 28. The opening show – Friday November 29 is sold out. There are four seats, available for Sunday night. Availability for Saturday – so book now.

*Lorin Sookool has a work featured on The Vrystaat Kunstefees 2020. Check it out. Tickets are purchased online at: www.vrystaatkunstefees.co.za/en/events/the-blunt-blades-of-bravado-die-stomp-lemme-van-bravado-2

Lorin Sookool social media and contact info

✅ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorinSookool/

✅ Website:  https://www.lorinsookool.wixsite.com/website-1

✅ Twitter: @LorinSookool https://twitter.com/LorinSookool

✅ Instagram: @koolsokool https://www.instagram.com/koolsokool/

✅ Contact: lorinsookool@gmail.com

About Lorin Sookool

Lorin Sookool graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Music in Dance from the University of Cape Town. She majored  in contemporary and African contemporary dance pedagogy. She has been employed at The Playhouse Company in Durban, and The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative in rural Mpumalanga. Since 2017, Sookool has been working as a freelance artist and has worked with choreographers on local and international platforms. Her body of work transcends choreography and performance and is increasingly reflecting her interests in “the politics of the creator who creates” and “the relationship between the work and the worker.” From early 2020, she has been based in Cape Town, where she lives with her partner and fellow theatre maker, Themba Mbuli.