| What: Magnet Theatre’s GLIMMER When: August 23 – 31, 2024 Where: Magnet Theatre: Cnr Lower Main & St Michael’s Roads in Observatory Booking: https://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=1547475200 Booking for school groups: E-mail projects@magnettheatre.co.za or call 021 448 3436 Company: Magnet Theatre Youth Company 2024 – Lusanda Soboyise, Melusi Molefe, Yvonne Msebenzi, Mihlali Bele, Emmanuel Ntsamba, Karabo Hope Banda, Sanele Phillip, Azola Mkhabile and Buhle T. Stefane Director: Roshina Ratnam Writers: Roshina Ratnam and Mongiwekhaya Set and costume design: Hansie Visagie (assisted by Kosie Smit) Lighting design: Themba Stewart Sound design and composition: Pierre-Henri Wicomb Movement advisor: Sven-Eric Müller |
The excellent Glimmer by Magnet Theatre takes a deep dive into the world of social media and how challenging and triggering it is for young people to live “authentic” lives as they get bombarded by the intersection of interweaving realities. The obsessive allure and seductiveness of the online world is intensely and viscerally evoked in Glimmer. There is undoubtedly sheer joy and pleasure of being immersed in the world of social media, having the adoration of followers but of course there is the grief of shedding one’s self and losing control and becoming utterly vulnerable. One gets the passion of people archiving their lives and the pleasure it gives them for affirmation, acceptance in the peer group.
Masterful direction by Roshina Ratnam who has co-written the play with Mongiwekhaya. Stunning ensemble work by Magnet Theatre Youth Company 2024 – Lusanda Soboyise, Melusi Molefe, Yvonne Msebenzi, Mihlali Bele, Emmanuel Ntsamba, Karabo Hope Banda, Sanele Phillip, Azola Mkhabile and Buhle T. Stefane. The acting smarts are informed by a vast vocabulary of theatre practices – with Magnet’s signature use of physical and visual performance. There is dance, singing and acrobatic movement. It is breathtaking.
Extraordinary lighting by Themba Stewart and sound by Pierre-Henri Wicomb. There are puppets. They are headless effigies – playful and poignant – embodying the stuff that goes beyond words and language. Ratnam: “Kosie Smit used clothes from Magnets wardrobe and sewed them to foam torsos so that they could have a 3D effect. I wanted a floating ‘invisible man’ effect.”
The catalyst for the play as Ratnam says in the director’s note was the shattering experience of someone close to her. Her child “was catfished and manipulated intimate photo with someone they thought they could trust”. From her concept, Mongiwekhaya fleshed out the story to where it is now, framed around three friends and what happens in their lives. Ratnam contributed to that full treatment. It is very much from the lived experience of the young people. The adults are peripheral and fleeting. Ratnam say that she remembers what it was like to be a teenager – the centre of her little world – with her friend cohort – and everything else secondary. This is what comes across in Glimmer – an intense landscape with young people trying to make sense of everything, trying to carve out their identities in a world, being thudded and prodded from all sides. See pop-up interview with Ratnam: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMr3k7vES/
Ratnam says that the actors are all in their early to mid-20s. One is 27. “They all prolific on social media.” They were invited to do research and give feedback. “They have taken a lot if ownership around some of the content in the show.” Ownership by the young cast is evidenced in the production which doesn’t come across as an issue play. The story between the three friends is layered beautifully from their meeting as tots to teens.
The set is intricately and impeccably fabricated with movable frames made up of giant mobile phone screens. Ratnam: “For me the frames represent so many things, portholes (the gaming world) thresholds (doors through which we walk through) platforms (Instagram etc) as well as frames within which memories are experienced and held.”
I love the playfulness in Glimmer. The puppets remind me of how kids play and have secret friends – invisible to everyone else but they are real to them. I also love the way the kids play – on swings – suspended in the mobile phone frame portals and in the gaming sequences. Props – shield, guns, hula, hoops have been spray painted with fluorescent paint and they are strikingly lit by Themba Stewart to convey the glimmering and triggering world of gaming. There are also emoji avatars which add to the madness and weirdness of this very intense world. They are a lot of fun.
I am not going to plot spoil. At the heart, beyond the vivid and intense spectre of Glimmer is a story about three young people, with a heart breaking outcome. What occurs in Glimmer is not only pertinent for young people. With social media, the ‘public’ has eroded the ‘private’ for people of all ages. “Like, comment, share, share, share” is the mantra. It has got to a point where when socialising one almost has to ask people to sign an NDA – non disclosure agreement. For instance, one has dinner with friends. One is not exactly groomed with messy hair and then that ends up being shared on social media- when one specifically asked for privacy. It is invasive and intrusive. We are watching ourselves being watched, constantly, in the glare and flash of flickering screens and effects.
Magnet Theatre’s Glimmer is an extraordinary production- a beautifully crafted script, nuanced performances, stunning set, props, lighting, sound and a story which will make you think deeply about how we are embedded in the arcade of social media. Every teen and young adult should see this play – and older peeps. There is fun and humour in this tender and poignant play. I love, loved Glimmer.
✳ Glimmer by Magnet Theatre, Cape Town, August 23 – 31, 2024. Picture: Mark Wessels.
