EVENT !

« FLOWERS OF SILENCE »
» A tragedic-comedy in the public space
ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM: FRIDAY 31th OF AUGUST – 11AM / TENTETELENI PRIMARY SCHOOL -
NELSPRUIT

A FRENCH-SOUTH AFRICAN CREATION PRODUCED BY:

THÉÂTRE THUMP ! (BORDEAUX - FRANCE) & MUTARIKO ARTS AND CULTURE PROJECT (NELSPRUIT)
DIRECTED BY TOM ROOS

Within the program « Cultural Seasons France – South Africa 2012/2013 » organized by the French Institute, Théâtre
Thump ! and Mutariko Arts and Culture Project will present « Flowers of silence » the 31th of August à Tenteteleni
Primary School.

For its first international creation, the young company from Bordeaux, Théâtre Thump! looks to realize an ambitious
project. Both an artistic and international cooperative project, ‘Flowers of Silence’ between artists of multiple
disciplines as well as different countries. South African musicians, singers, and dancers (Mutariko Arts and Culture
Project) and French actors (Théâtre Thump!) have therefore unified within a popular theatre format.

Thereby, they confront themselves with one of the most famous artistic directors in street theatre from Belgium : Tom
Roos. After a tour in Schools and festivals in South Africa, the ensemble will be in Bordeaux in 2013 to show its work. In
addition they’ll make the most of their time there to enrichen their work with the choreographers Norbert Sénou et
Caroline Fabre (Cie Fabre/Sénou) before a tour in day camps and festivals in France, Germany, Belgium et Holland.
+ More informations

Streetheatre (theatre in the public space) is still an undiscovered dramatic

territory in South Africa. In essence a popular form of theatre in Europe, it
therefore seems interesting to develop this in South Africa whereby to perform
outdoors permits us to access a larger public, a public which habitually does
not go to the ‘theatre’.

During the Month of April 2011, Theatre Thump! and the Mutariko Arts and
Culture Project began collaborating on the full character expressive mask
street theatre piece “Flowers of Silence”. This first phase was a phase of
discovery (getting to know one another and one’s ambitions) laying down the
foundations for further work together.

The South Africa and Europe contexts provide wonderful opportunities for the
project “Flowers of Silence” to perform in. The show brings diverse audiences
together as it is performed on the street, in the townships as well as in schools.
It is a form of popular theatre, told simply for all to understand.

Calender :
- From 20th to 30th August 2012
- 31th of August 2012
- 1st & 2nd of september 2012
- 1st & 2nd of october 2012
- October 2012
Artists-in-residence programm in Nelspruit
Tenteteleni Primary School
Nelspruit Botanical Garden
Nelspruit School Festival
Western Cape Schools Tour
+ « Flowers of silence »: the pitch

A couple search the place where their lives toppled over…”

Médéa and Simion, two aged characters coming from another
world, come to give a final hommage to a loved one.

One death. One culpable. One sacrifice.

Come reconstruct this puzzle of intrigue through the lives of this

strange couple. Come also listen and watch the enigmatic
creatures, the ancestors, reunified in the form of a choir, who sing,
dance and cry, to finally, only, laugh at the human tragedies.

“And crawling on the planet’s face Some insects called the

human race
Lost in time, lost in space
And meaning.” (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)

This piece is visual and intimate and relooks at the family

dilemmas of the Greek tragedies, where love, death, jealousy and
vengeance lie. During this however the nuances of the play could
well make the audience even laugh. Therefore the comic does
indeed meet the tragic.

The expressive masks also hereby permit to magnify a certain

situation: a strange and ancient world falling into our modern
contemporary world. The show brings diverse audiences together
as it is performed on the street, in the townships as well as in
schools. It is a form of popular theatre, told simply for all to
understand.

The message in the piece is not a question of moral, but rather

one of observation and reflection, without answers, upon the
human condition: Who is culpable? Where is there place for
destiny in our lives?
THÉÂTRE THUMP!
(France – South Africa)

Théâtre Thump! was born in Berlin Germany in

2008 after Carole Deborde (France) & Oliver
Borowski (South Africa/Germany) had
completed two years of theatre school. They
decided to create the duo ‚Theatre Thump!’. The
first steps were in Berlin but in August 2009, the
duo moved to Bordeaux in France. Théâtre
Thump!’s visual theatre is one of simplicity which
rests upon a slow work tempo, as well as on
human and artistic meetings. With the play of
masks or the clown they develop foolish,
grotesque and absurd worlds.
MUTARIKO ARTS AND CULURE
PROJECT – (Nelspruit – South Africa)
PRESS CONTACT IN SOUTH AFRICA:
The home of Mutariko is deep in the South
Oliver Borowski / 0765879651
African lowveld, Nelspruit. The project is run by info@theatrethump.com
Godfrey Nyika Dupwa and is an organisation
that brings to life the African ancient times’ way
of life in the modern world through indigenous
African dances and music instruments.
Through music, dance, storytelling and poetry,
the project is working towards instilling African
traditional values. Music of the past is brought to
life by the modern man and uses it to transmit
cultural values and indigenous raditional beliefs.