Review: Visceral lived experience of The Cry of Winnie Mandela, the play

The Market Theatre’s acclaimed production, The Cry of Winnie Mandela, based on Njabulo Ndebele’s novel is on in the Baxter Flipside until February 15, 2025. Directed by award-winning MoMo Matsunyane, this captivating production, stars Thembisa Mdoda-Nxumalo as Winnie Mandela and Mdoda-Nxumalo, Rami Chuene, Ayanda Sibisi, Siyasanga Papu, Les Made and Pulane Rampoana.

The stage adaption is by Alex Burger. The novel was published in 2003. A revised edition was published in 2013 and Njabulo Ndebele included an introduction in that edition, together with reviews and articles about the book. Extracts from that introduction have been incorporated in the character of the Professor – Professor Ndebele- played by Les Nkosi. In the play, we see the Professor attempting to unpack the life and times of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela through the nexus of “waiting” which underscored her life. He is struggling to process her story, find words to discuss her. The prof is assisted by four women who relate their stories. They have spent their lives waiting for the return of their men, as with Winnie who was in waiting for Nelson Mandela. The leitmotif of ‘waiting’ is framed by the Prof through the fable of Odysseus’ Penelope. She waited with unflinching loyalty for twenty years for his return while he did his thing of war and apparently consorting with other women.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – the Mother of the Nation – is not easy territory to navigate. She remained resolute to the end. The play ends, with her words, screened onto the set: “I’m not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do everything I did again if I had to. Everything.” These are challenging words/concepts when gazing at Winnie –  “everything” and “sorry” . [I am using her first name here as I am mindful that she hyphenated her maiden name, after her divorce from Nelson].  

As we know, Winnie’s and Nelson’s love story didn’t end well. She has been widely vilified and dismissed for some of the choices she made.  For this play, directed with sensitivity by MoMo Matsunyane, we are invited to consider her as a human and not dismiss her. The sisterhood – as portayed by the four women – is embracing her resilience and loyalty. It is not a matter of “excusing” her but about putting oneself in her shoes. What would you do if you were in her situation? It is easy to spew out “good” versus “bad” but the reality is very different.

Through dynamic performances of the five female performers, we get a palpable sense of the lived experience of Winnie and the women in waiting. The Professor’s den, with wood furniture, floors, stain glass and opulent furnishings conjures up a men’s club, where women do not have a place. The four women and Winnie insert themselves into the room – which becomes emblematic of a waiting room as they share their stories and interact with Winnie. It is the waiting room – a space to enter Winnie’s life – and legacy – not explain her. She is complicated. As a nation, we are complicated.

I loved Matsunyane’s placing of the women as they sing and voice their stories. Tea cups are suspended in space; words are left dangling. Bodies are frozen as tea is poured. The energy of the women oozes into the static and ordered den of the professor. Physical performance transcend words such as ‘sorry’ and ‘everything’.  Beautifully staged and performed, The Cry of Winnie Mandela urges us all to become immersed in the sticky tangle of ‘waiting’. We are “a nation in waiting”, we hear in the play. These are profound words which drew gasps from the audience. Of course waiting is different for everyone – physically and emotionally. And what does waiting do to people? We must all think about that very carefully. The Cry of Winnie Mandela is an unsettling and uncomfortable play, a howl for us to not look away. It is a visceral lived experience in the waiting room as we are challenged to process the legacy of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

✳ The cast of The Market Theatre’s The Cry of Winnie Mandela, based on the novel of the same name by Njabulo Ndebele and adapted for the stage by Alex Burger, Baxter Flipside, Cape Town, January 29 to February 15, 2025. Pic supplied.