There’s something comfortingly homespun and old-fashioned about Mother Africa’s circus show, 'Khayelitsha – My Home'. Although it’s supposedly set in the Cape Flats township of Khayelitsha, and the cast bustle about the cluttered set shouting, dancing, playing about and pretending to hawk goods in between the acts, the circus skills are presented straight and largely concept-free. In keeping with the setting, the props look suitably scavenged, and not every trick comes off, but with graceful professionalism, the performers pick themselves up and nail them the second time – which adds to the charm of it all.
Mother Africa, based in Tanzania, was created in 2006 as an African circus designed to find an international audience. Its talented multinational cast on this tour represent South Africa, Ethiopia and Ghana as well as Tanzania – the on-stage band’s lively accompaniment is suitably pan-African too, with sunny rumba, high-life, township funk and retooled reggae, plus some rather beautiful kora playing from Guinea’s Mamadi Diabate. The audience is at one point enjoined to take part in a drum and clap routine. The dancing includes a spirited South African gumboot dance, and something resembling a zumba class with added b-boy headspins.
Circus trick-wise, we get, among other things, a gymnastic hula hoop routine, a unicyclist riding increasingly Heath Robinson-style contraptions, some impressive juggling, and a frankly terrifying “rolla rolla” act, in which Mohamed Tadei Mohamed maintains his balance on an increasingly tottering vertical pile of rolling cylinders. The closing Icarian Games routine – a version of foot juggling where a person is flipped, balanced and spun at speed – performed by the Ethiopians Tomas Teka Alemu and Tamrat Yemane Ayalew, is hugely impressive. All in all, it’s a warmhearted, raucous, and rather endearing show.
BY: SIOBHAN MURPHY