Venus in Four Acts | COLLATION 4 | The Maskandalification of Opera

Curated by The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s Impresario, Neo Muyanga, the project explores the genre of opera from its periphery, with an aim to incubate and inspire new experimental approaches to opera. Eight new miniature operas by South African composers have been created. These composers presented their scores and concepts to an ensemble of musicians, singers and dramaturges, who will bring the dramatic musical stories to life over the course of this three-day mini festival. COLLATION 4 | The Maskandalification of Opera focuses on what innovation and accessibility could mean when the art form is approached from a decidedly South African perspective, and discovering what this perspective allows us to bring back to the operatic genre. Urban Zulu folk music is said to be termed ‘uMaskanda' because the itinerant musician has the power to turn, reset, or ‘khanda’ any instrument into one that ’speaks’ isiZulu. “We take inspiration from this posture, and aim to ‘khanda’ our opera so that it sounds as we do. And since – as the joke goes – the letter ‘r’ gets replaced with the letter ‘l’ in spoken isiZulu, we have termed our experiment the ‘maskandalification’ of opera.” – Neo Muyanga Venus in Four Acts CONCEPTUALISERS | Ann Masina, Lebogang Mashile & Tiffany E. Barber PERFORMERS & MUSICIANS | Ann Masina, Lebogang Mashile, Bongile Lecoge-Zulu, Mapule Moloi, Vhahangwele Moopo, Nokuthula Magubane, Larissa Johnson, Waldo Alexander, Micca Manganye & Phumelelo Ndlovu MUSICAL ARRANGERS | Larissa Johnson & Bongile Lecoge-Zulu LIBRETTIST | Lebogang Mashile DRAMATURG | Aalliyah Zama Matintela CHOREOGRAPHERS | Tiffany E. Barber, Smangaliso Ngwenya & Thuli Binda PRODUCTION FOR THE CENTRE FOUNDER | William Kentridge CO-FOUNDER & DIRECTOR | Bronwyn Lace IMPRESARIO | Neo Muyanga MOMENTEUR – THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis HOLDER | Dimakatso Motholo-Miya HEAD STAGE MANAGER | Jessica Sibongile Mathe ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER | Mlungisi Tshobeka DIRECTOR OF CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITOR | Noah Cohen CINEMATOGRAPHER & EDITOR | Bukhosibakhe “Pantsulatographer” Khoza HEAD OF SOUND | Zain Vally SOUND ENGINEER | Ross Culverwell PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHER | Bash Hops GRAPHIC DESIGNER | Marcus Neustetter WRITER & HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS | David Mann SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT | Jaden Mmokwa Oratile Mosadi SCENOGRAPHER & COSTUME DESIGNER | Nthabiseng Malaka COSTUME DESIGNER | Nthabiseng Makone COSTUME ASSISTANTS | Molebogeng Phiri & Tumelo Namtweya-Phiri SEWIST | Thato Mahlangu TECHNICAL & LIGHTING DIRECTOR | Michael Inglis LIGHTING ENGINEER | Themba Mthimkulu EQUIPMENT MANAGER | Bongani Mpofu FRONT OF HOUSE | POPArt Productions LIGHTING & AV SUPPLIER | Gearhouse Splitbeam HOUSEKEEPING & SPACE MANAGER | Gracious Dube ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR | Jacqueline Ndelu ADMINISTRATOR | Thembelihle Hadebe TECHNICAL COORDINATOR | Ruby Friedman SPECIAL THANKS WILLIAM KENTRIDGE STUDIO Linda Leibowitz, Natalie Dembo, Damon Garstang, Anne McIlleron, Anne Blom, Taryn Buccellato, Jessica Jones, Chris-Waldo de Wet, Jacques van Staden, Joey Netshiombo, Diego Sillands & Thandi Nkabinde THE OFFICE performing arts + film Website: https://lessgoodidea.com/season-11-no... Instagram: / lessgoodidea TikTok: / less.good.idea Facebook: / lessgoodidea #lessgoodidea @lessgoodidea ​