Reboot Eden: Mnumzaan

Mnumzane in Zulu means ‘Sir’. The original elephant character named Mnumzane is taken from the adolescent bull who features in Anthony Lawrence’s 2009 novel ‘The Elephant Whisperer’, set in KwaZulu Natal and which served as some of the inspiration for the 2016 production of ‘Olifantland’. Towards the end of our 2016 performance, Mnumzane charges at a vehicle full of tourists and the main protagonist, a wildlife conservationist, has to make the devastating choice to shoot the giant in order to save their lives. It is a heart wrenching moment as he discovers that the reason Mnumzane was so volatile and dangerous was due to an extremely painful broken and rotten tooth. In this new short performance, directed and written by Angelo Endley with puppetry directed by Sipho Ngxola, the team have re-created the character as Mnumzaan, exploring with some humour and light heartedness, the story of the toothache that plagues a young bull walking through the Tradau valley in the Klein Karoo. The puppet itself is a tour de force, created to life-size scale and with the intricate sculptural and engineering artistry that characterizes the work of its designer, Handspring Puppet Company co-director and chief puppet designer Adrian Kohler. Both Ngxola and Endley performed Mnumzane in the 2016 production (and Ngxola performs again in this short performance) and their skill, artistry and connection to the living presence of the elephant is a sight to behold as he moves through the vast landscapes of the Karoo.

This performance was first broadcast via Facebook and YouTube on Friday, 18 December 2020.

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Видео Reboot Eden: Mnumzaan канала Centre for Humanities Research, UWC