Visual Theatre and Puppetry company, The Paper Body Collective present In Medea Res, a visually sumptuous and stirring re-telling of the myth of Leto, Goddess of exiles. Directed and created by Aja Marneweck, this 'heat stroke' production played on the main programme at the HIFA festival(sponsored by Prohelvetia2010) after sold out performances at the world famous Festival Mondial Des Theatres De Marionnette in France and performances at theatres around Belgium (2009, sponsored by IFAS, BASA, Digital Brothers, the NAC and Africalia). Vivid imagery, imaginative puppetry and powerful storytelling follow Letos journey through exile as we encounter mobile characters and strange wanderers lost on the peripheries of society, dreaming of home. The Paper Body Collective creates South African Womens Visual Performance that promotes professional experimentation in risk-taking creative production. The award winning team includes Commonwealth Vision film-maker Jacqueline van Meygaarden and designer Angela Nemov.
Created and Directed by: Aja Marneweck Puppetry: Aja Marneweck, Jade Waller
Assistant director: Awelani Moyo (Zimbabwe) Cinematography: Jacqueline Van Meygaarden Design: Angela Nemov Lighting: Daniel Galloway
Technical Manager: Beren Belknap
Performance coach: Jori Snell
Key cast: Andrea van Meygaarden, Martin Kintu, Cindi Mkaza,
Rouxnet Brown, Fundi Zwane, Theo and Asa Laubscher
With text adapted from Marina Warner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Toni Morrison, Jeannette Winterson and Chirikure Chirikure.
Special Thanks: Ant Strack (design) Sebastian Voigt (additional sound)
I thought it was amazing, the most fantastic thing I have ever seen
and I actually couldnt move out of my seat
La Loba
'Nobody wanted to leave at the end of this astounding performance.
The gifted duo mesmerise weaving a magical journey into the psyche
of archetypal womanhood. Brilliant.' CK, The Cue, 3 July 2007.
La Loba, is a thirty minute, two-women live performance. Using shadows, multimedia and large paper puppets, the piece was originally created by multimedia puppeteer and visual theatre director, Aja Marneweck. La Loba has been developed with videographer and performer Jacqueline Van Meygaarden who has worked with Marneweck since 2005. The show has been performed at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, the Out The Box Festival Cape Town South Africa, the European Womens International Festival in Finland and Sweden and at the Nairobi International Puppetry Festival, Kenya.
There are in actual fact four performers on stage, with Chuma Sopotela and Stephen Davis suspended on two paper screens accompanying the performance. Prose is adapted from Jeanette Wintersons irreverent and imaginative novel Sexing the Cherry (Vintage 1990).
This offbeat piece tells a dark tale of feminist intrigue, as Wintersons prose juggles with our perception of history and reality; love and sex; lies and truths. La Loba is about a woman who finds herself in a space she doesnt quite remember. She moves through the dusty, littered attic of her mind. The space is cluttered with jars full of memories, paper, suitcases, the paraphernalia of her life experiences. As she moves, she gathers fragments of the formative fantastical spaces of her world. Out of her recollections she begins to build something. Much like the archetype of La Huesera, the old bone-woman, the gatherer, Loba is gathering bones. She looks for pieces on herself, around in the space, to build something new, but it is old, it is herself again, and it is not what she thought it would be.
Residue
Dance Factory, Newtown Johannesburg. Prague International Puppetry Festival, Czech Republic, Intimate Theatre Cape Town, Cape Town Festival: Cape Town.
Created and Directed by: Aja Marneweck
Puppetry by: Aja Marneweck
Cinematography by: Jacqueline Van Meygaarden and Ant Strack
Additional Sound and mixing by: Crick, Jeannette and Prince Alfredo
Performed by: Vaneshree Lingham, Natalie Cervati, Jacqueline Van Meygaarden, Aja Marneweck, Yolandi Michaels
Photography and print design by: Ant Strack
'Striking exhibits extraordinary power'.- Brent Meersman, Mail and Guardian, 8 April 2006.
MALADAMATJUATE
2003-2004
Site Specific: Big Black Box Cape Town
Grahamstown National Arts Festival
Final project for Aja Marnewecks Masters degree in Theatre Making
'The most powerful production we saw'- F Rumboll, Cedar House 2004
'Unique and lively play Outstanding'- Argus Tonight 2004
