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THE SHOPPING DEAD
GENRE: Whatsapp performance
DURATION: 1hr
LANGUAGE: English
AGES: 14+
AVAILABLE FROM: July 2.
A WhatsApp theatre performance. Who would have thought?
Written by 2017 National Arts Festival Gold Ovation winner Ncumisa Ndimeni and directed by theatre maker and UCT PhD student Lesego Chauke, The Shopping Dead is relayed to audiences entirely through the use of messages, voice notes, memes and videos.
The production stars Chris Djuma (J), Tankiso Mamabolo (Khwezi), Kiroshan Naidoo (Dalen) and Kathleen Stephens (Z), who play four retail store employees.
Keeping audiences glued to their screens, the play unfolds in the aisles of a Mega Mart store where the working lives of J, Khwezi, Dalen and Z are disrupted when an obnoxious American customer visits the store carrying a mutated version of Covid-19.
While The Shopping Dead has a very basic story-line it cleverly uses satire to examine and comment on the pandemic, capitalism and the power dynamics between global superpowers and Africa.
The production premiered on the virtual National Arts Festival's main programme on July 2 to a sold-out audience with more than 200 eager theatre lovers joining the Whats App group in anticipation of the show.
Admittedly, at first it all feels very strange; from trying to wrap your head around what the experience might be to wondering if you will be able to stick around for a whole hour of reading and following a WhatsApp conversation.
The story starts off slowly at first, introducing characters, their personalities and their position at the store, but the production becomes surprisingly and increasingly more suspenseful, making it difficult to tear yourself away for the fear of missing out on an important revelation.
There are times when keeping up with the messages is difficult — mostly because of slow internet connectivity — and trying to read each word and follow the story can be confusing at first, but once you take note of the cues you start to understand where and how all the pieces of the plot fit together.
At times the audience feel like voyeurs, “spying” or looking in on a private Whats App conversation between colleagues and friends — a conversation where they poke fun at customers, confess their love and share their grievances towards “the man” and their contempt towards head office.
At other times, it feels like reading a book or a script but listening to a podcast at the same time, yet unlike a book there are also digital visuals and sounds which help your imagination along.
It is difficult to give an accurate description of what “watching” The Shopping Dead is really like because there isn’t much to compare it to.
To fully understand the experience, the production needs to be watched “live”, message by message, minute by minute as the story unfolds in front of your eyes.
The Shopping Dead is truly innovative and new — a form of theatre that is wonderfully weird and wacky.
- The Shopping Dead is one of two productions on the virtual National Arts Festival's main programme that make use of WhatsApp performances. The final performance of The Shopping Dead takes place at 11am on July 4. Visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
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