iMUMBO JUMBO (The Days of Miracle and Wonder)

iMUMBO JUMBO
iMUMBO JUMBO
iMUMBO JUMBO
iMUMBO JUMBO
iMUMBO JUMBO
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iMUMBO JUMBO
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iMUMBO JUMBO
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iMUMBO JUMBO
iMUMBO JUMBO

The journey of a rural South African spiritual leader into the Wonderland of 20th Century Britain.

iMumbo Jumbo dramatises the true, intrepid, sacred and quixotic 1996 quest of Chief Nicholas Tilana Gcaleka (sangoma, priest, liquor salesman, guru) to retrieve the head of his ancestor, King Hintsa kaPhalo - Paramount Chief of the amaXhosa nation, killed by a Colonial posse in 1836 - and thereby to restore peace to South Africa. Escorted from Heathrow Airport by Sky TV Chief Gcaleka travels to Scotland where he eventually unearths a skull in Inverness. The arrival of the skull in the amaXhosa homeland stirs up a hornets' nest of tribal politics.

iMumbo Jumbo takes the form of a whacky, musical African pantomime enclosed within a ceremony held by Chief Gcaleka to bring peace to the country.

The story is a moving modern hero myth dealing with many topical issues: a traditional African perspective on the causes of violence in South Africa, a demand from the heart of Africa for recompense for the social and cultural destruction caused by colonialism, a look at the tensions between traditional and contemporary values and modes of thinking within our country, a plea for a more spiritual orientation within our national psyche...

On the links at the bottom of the page you can find the full script, essays and notes on the text, an article from TDR, and press reviews.

 

‘iMumbo Jumbo has the seductiveness of the sensual, simple truth. It's a rich reminder of volatile forces that cannot be reasoned away... an intoxicating whiff of the pointedly irrational.’
THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
‘Here is an astonishing watershed work that grabs our fundamental cultural differences by the throat, beginning the vital process of exporting images and ideas to tell the First World not only what we think of ourselves but of it as well.’
THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
‘A startling work, heralding nothing less than a new and thoroughly appropriate form of theatre for this country... In the way of the finest cultural inspirations and articulations, iMumbo Jumbo forcefully reminds us of the richness and versatility of reality.’
THE STAR
‘ Magical - and surreally true - story of a South African healer's quest for the skull of his ancestor. ’
LONDON TIME OUT - Theatre Critics' Choice
‘ Chief Gcaleka's story unfolded before our astonished eyes with such spectacle, such fun, and such integrity, that we believed it was he himself who recounted his adventures. Every episode, every element, in iMumbo Jumbo was unpredictable, idiosyncratic, and totally engrossing. ’
GLASCOW HERALD

HISTORY:
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  • 1997: Grahamstown Festival (main programme), Market Theatre (Johannesburg) 
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  • 2003: Barbican Theatre (London), Grahamstown Festival, Baxter Theatre (Cape Town) 
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AWARDS: 
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  • Vita Award: 2nd Quarter Award for Gauteng, 1997/98
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  • Vita Award: Best Script of a new South African play, 1997/98
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  • Vita Award: Best Costume Design, 1997/98
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