ABOUT T.I.N

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.” Jean Paul Sartre

THINGS I'M NOT is an autobiographical music theatre piece and exploration of empowerment to uncover the Things I Am. It is the journey I took to discover ultimate love and acceptance of self.

T.I.N is a tale that begins with the events after my father was killed in the Rhodesian War in Zimbabwe, and I, separated from my mother, the daughter of a poor South African migrant, was taken from her to be raised by my father's family. Delving into my childhood, which I lived on an international backdrop filled with violence and abuse, eventually leading to legally winning my freedom as a teenager.

Deconstructing my hybridisation through the expression of combined multimedia and theatrical art forms, this project is an excavation into the inner and outer world of my family's secrets, my past, and its affect on my present self.  T.I.N is the unmasking of the shamanic doubles we use to protect our true selves from the cold reality of life.

With a cross-pollination of theatre, music, dance, spoken word, verbatim and projection, we explore my unique story and mixed African heritage (Ndebele, Twja San, Shona, Basotho Chewa, European). We draw on these cultures, and engage with the philosophy and aesthetics of Afro-futurism. We look at the modern world of transnational multiculturalism and technology within the confines of old world identities, to create a multi-textured production, shifting from large-scale scenes with musical numbers, dance and projections, then moving to more intimate moments. 

GIVA (pronounced GUY-VAH) is my individual immortal essence, my breath of life. She is what kept me alive in my childhood. The friend who shared all with me, and saw my pain. She helped me forget when I needed to, and smile when it was necessary. She held me in my most traumatic moments, taking me to another place where nothing could hurt me. She is the force that pushed me to get away when the time was right.

DAURIA (pronounced DOW-REE-AH) was created to be my strength, and overcome my shyness which was not going to serve me well as a young adult on my own nor as a performer. She was the persona I took on to drive my ambition to achieve greatness. She is fearless, often arrogant, and grandiose in persona. When Dauria is around we always find ourselves at a party.

LALEK (pronounced LA-LEK) is a Semordnilap of the word KELAL. Which can also be spelt CHELAL as its a Hebrew word, and the letter associated with the letters ‘CH’ when read in Hebrew make a K like sound. I wanted her to have a connection in some way to my Motherhood, and as my children are part Israeli, I looked for a word or name that would relate. KELAL’s root word is KALAL. Kalal looks at the final result of an entity's positive evolution. In other words, it means Completion or Perfection.