Philisiwe Twijnstra's Second production to be staged in 'Festival Teatro De Inverno'

Image: Cheeky Lens

Festival Teatro De Inverno came at the right time, in a time, where we needed a way to spread the wings of this universal story. 

Matty & Sis is adapted in a South African context. We had a small South African tour, we were able to see the show grow in leaps and sometimes we even shared a tear or two, seeing how the audience connected with 'Matty & Sis. One thing we picked up was that: It does not matter whether you from MOZAMBIQUE,SA, USA or THE NETHERLANDS, the story speaks volumes and any human being can hear. One audience member said I quote "This is my story, how did you know?" I do believe in having a good script, Matty and Sis is a well-crafted piece of writing any young director would be happy to have in their hands, It has so many rooms to create and to translate.  Young emerging directors should fight for good quality scripts, which it's rare to find.

Matty & Sis is a new existing production which in the past months has been characterised by growth and feasibility. Matty & Sis had been selected to play in a major theatre Festival in Durban,Musho Theatre Festival.  Musho Theatre Festival has indeed opened doors for Matty & Sis production, and ignited talks about collaboration, hence we were invited to a Festival Teatro De Inverno; an international theatre festival in Mozambique, which it accommodates plays from Angola, Brazil, USA.

Matty & Sis will play two days in the festival,on the morning of Friday Roel Twijnstra, the project manager will conduct workshops about acting and directing in Eduardo Mondlane University to share knowledge and facilitate skills. With no doubt Matty & Sis might provoke thoughts and questions amongst the audience, after the performances, there will be a planned QnA session to discuss more openly about the play and the process behind.

The reason why I wanted to direct again,it's simple actually after adapting and directing  Sugary Spice for the Women's’ Theatre festival in 2014, I wanted to continue as a young emerging director. I needed to challenge my directing skills, by directing somebody else's script, I needed to identify how to bring the distance closer between someone's script and my skill as a director as well, in fact, that is still a journey I'm enjoying and I'm yet discovering. In a mere sense, I have no idea,where is this all leading to but I have the understanding and the capacity to learn. 

Having said that I realised we need spaces, we need more platforms like Musho,Wushwini Arts Centre,Olive Tree Theatre, Platform especially, in Durban. To allow young theatre-makers to make mistakes and learn from them, to allow us to test and retest our work. 

I strongly hold on to the belief that without censorship of some kind only then will I grow, Only then will I try, Only then will I make mistakes, Only then will we have more playwrights, more female directors than actors who supposedly end up being bubble gum actors.

Ok! I have diverted a bit however the essential point of this blog is I struggled to find a good contemporary and relevant theatre script,which I found in Matty and Sis  from the Dutch writer Theo Fransz.

26-30 May 2016
Festival Teatro De Inverno 
Mozambique.

Image: Cheeky Lens