Mandela Mathia has an extraordinary stage presence – warm and generous spirited.
Lose to Win is his autobiographical sharing. It tells of being born in South Sudan in the midst of conflict, moving to Egypt in the hope of making real the dream of coming to Australia, and the final arrival in the so-called Promised Land.
The journey is difficult. When the average Australian has never gone hungry, it’s a soul expanding wake-up call to be told We went to funerals because there was food.
Director Jessica Arthur allows the tale to be told with suitable simplicity, an appreciation that truth needs no ornamentation.
Musician Yacou Mbaye supports Mathia, providing evocative rhythms that help transport a fortunate audience to distant lands.
Mathia tells us there were several forks in the road, moments where a poor decision could lead to moral collapse. This is an especially powerful assertion when it is apparent his tale is one of Little People being caught in Big History, ordinary people facing forces so overwhelming that individuals can seem robbed of all choice.
On several occasions, Mathia suggests the choice was between Anger and Love. (Perhaps this is THE CHOICE in Life.)
I’ve written a lot about the preponderance of sharings on our stages. I think it’s odd that we’ve come to think that theatre is about telling our stories in the autobiographical sense. One thing I haven’t mentioned previously is the challenge that autobiography creates for the theatre maker. Get it wrong and the audience response is Why am I hearing just about you? Get it right and the audience response is I want to hear more! This is not how it works with fiction. Awkward and potentially confusing analogy: make a beautiful vase and its joy is in its containment, its completeness. Its beauty doesn’t make you want the vase to be bigger. (Though it may make you want there to be more vases.)
Because Mathia’s story is wonderfully told we want to know more – but he has to stop somewhere! By the time the story gets to Australia, concrete details become fewer. Mathia talks about racism, but we hear more about the media and Peter Dutton than his own experience. It might be hard for the audience to hear, and hard for the performer, but …
But, I did refer earlier to THE CHOICE. Anger versus Love. What makes this show such a beautiful gift is that it forefronts this choice, and is gloriously clear which side must win.
Paul Gilchrist
Lose to Win by Mandela Mathia
at Belvoir until 19 May
belvoir.com.au/productions/lose-to-win/
Image by Brett Boardman
Theatre Red 