Collective Amnesia
Family gatherings are always awkward, particularly as the prodigal-artistic child who has not been home in a long while. ‘Water’, a sibling to a mad-house, sits at a dinner table with a family she last saw twelve Decembers ago, discussing nail polish, food and subjects her family has worked hard at keeping dormant. Performance Poet Koleka Putuma, takes us on a 45 minute poetic experience, perhaps a poetic rant, of the socio-political and personal journey of South African events in the wake of Student movements and parliament debauchery.
Family gatherings are always awkward, particularly as the prodigal-artistic child who has not been home in a long while. ‘Water’, a sibling to a mad-house, sits at a dinner table with a family she last saw twelve Decembers ago, discussing nail polish, food and subjects her family has worked hard at keeping dormant. Performance Poet Koleka Putuma, takes us on a 45 minute poetic experience, perhaps a poetic rant, of the socio-political and personal journey of South African events in the wake of Student movements and parliament debauchery.
Performance Poet, Writer and Theatre Practitioner Koleka Putuma graduated with a BA in Theatre & Performance at the University of Cape Town. She has been featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC focus on Africa, Badilisha Poetry X-Change and TEDx. Her plays include UHM, and Mbuzeni. In 2015 she spent her eight month residency at the Magnet Theatre creating plays for young audiences which includes Ekhaya for 2-7 year olds and SCOOP for 2 weeks-12month old babies. In 2014 She was crowned South Africa’s first national slam champion. In 2015 she was nominated for the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors at the annual Fleur Du Cap Theatre Awards. She has been named One of Africa’s top 10 poets by Badilisha, and the Sunday Times named her one of the young pioneers who took South Africa by storm in 2015. She is a resident poet of the collective Lingua Franca and Co-Founder of theatre companies: Velvet Spine and The Papercut Collective.
Performance Poet, Writer and Theatre Practitioner Koleka Putuma graduated with a BA in Theatre & Performance at the University of Cape Town. She has been featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC focus on Africa, Badilisha Poetry X-Change and TEDx. Her plays include UHM, and Mbuzeni. In 2015 she spent her eight month residency at the Magnet Theatre creating plays for young audiences which includes Ekhaya for 2-7 year olds and SCOOP for 2 weeks-12month old babies. In 2014 She was crowned South Africa’s first national slam champion. In 2015 she was nominated for the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors at the annual Fleur Du Cap Theatre Awards. She has been named One of Africa’s top 10 poets by Badilisha, and the Sunday Times named her one of the young pioneers who took South Africa by storm in 2015. She is a resident poet of the collective Lingua Franca and Co-Founder of theatre companies: Velvet Spine and The Papercut Collective.
Audience Responses
World class poetry! Would definitely come back for her recital again.