SCENE IT: ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER is a human-interest story that beguiles with truth and resilience

Barbara Loots

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ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER, currently onstage at the Baxter Theatre until 19 April 2025, is a thrilling, emotional journey created by director Neil Coppen and actor Mpume Mthombeni.

Photo by Val Adamson.

I first experienced this dramatic gem of a one-person play at Woordfees 2024 where it played to sold out houses and was deservedly labelled a festival favourite. I have reflected on this play often since and when I saw it would be staged at the Baxter Theatre encouraged everyone in my circle to go see it.

My first ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER experience was in an intimate festival sitting, where I felt to be sitting at the feet of the prodigious protagonist, Zenzile Maseko, absolutely captivated by her journey as revealed through the stellar performance of Mthombeni.

Stepping into the Baxter Theatre Flipside, where the play is currently gracing the stage, I felt a bit more removed, the venue size somewhat overpowering the set. Even though this meant that the play’s impact was different on the second viewing, it was nevertheless a performance of note and I am very happy to have been given an opportunity to go on this journey with Zenzile again.

Set in a Durban women’s hostel, ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER introduces Zenzile, a once (and perhaps still) feared political assassin to the audience. Many regard her as the embodiment of the vengeful spirit of “Impundulu” or “The Lightning Bird”. Through her conversions with “Unkulunkulu” or “God” you stand witness to her life, with particular reference to a rather turbulent past. The telling of her tale is at times both humerous and haunting. At its heart, ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER is a story about the resilience of the human spirit.

Photo by Val Adamson.

The production has a pre-set, a theatrical ploy that I am not particularly fond of as it feels a bit disrespectful towards a performer, but it’s a choice: The pre-set sees Mthombeni onstage as the audience meanders in, talking and for the most ignoring her until the house lights go down. But once the theatre darkens there is no ignoring Mthombeni. Her performance is engaging and engrossing.

You get to know her character as a stranger in her own community and country, socially displaced by past accidents (being struck by and surviving lighting as a child), but also seen through reflections of her political movements and manoeuvres at the dawn of democracy when she formed part of an elite team of seven female assassins for the IFP. Her current struggle she reveals as the lack of acceptance and forgiveness by the Christian community. Often, and unfairly, labelled a witch, Zenzile is a striking, cheekily irreverent woman who flinches for no man or system. Mthombeni embodies her with gusto as a woman who will not be moved by people or circumstance if it is not of her choosing to do so.

The script is considered and carefully structured for the narrative to loop through two distinct constructs: The one being the idea that someone who apparently can’t die and in fact survived horrific political conflict can rather unceremoniously be labelled deceased by bureaucratic error. The other is the impact of childhood bonds and memories, where someone can root themselves as both friend and nemesis, and how the associated emotional scars can bring someone full circle to discover who they were and who they want to be, while unashamedly finding peace in both these revelations.

What further cloaks this impressive play with yet another layer of intrigue is the lighting design of Tina Le Roux that moves with deliberate intent, casting shadows that play against the walls, accentuating Zenzile’s struggles. The lighting design cloaks her character in appropriate and complimentary emotional hues that amplify the visceral journey unfolding.

Photo by Val Adamson.

The sound design by Tristan Horton is as impactful as the lighting, though on the night the sound balance felt a bit out, with the sound design overpowering Mthombeni during the most striking of monologue moments, specifically the ones where she recounts the action taken during her time as a political assassin. Perhaps this is the difference between viewing the play in an intimate spaces versus on a larger theatre stage. It is very possible that those who encounter ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER as a first-time watch at the Baxter Theatre won’t be too perturbed by what I experienced as slightly overpowering sound this time around. This will simply be the (larger theatre) format within which they get to engage with the amazing story of Zenzile. Regardless of the space where you meet Zenzile, one thing is certain, you will walk away with a very clear and lingering memory of having encountered a remarkable character as part of an amazing theatre experience.

A character of this magnitude can’t help but stay with you, making you wonder when you’ll be allowed to meet Zenzile again to hear more about the story of this woman who can harness the power of “Impundulu”, while conversing like old friends with “Unkulunkulu”.

You have until 19 April 2025 to see ISIDLAMLILO/THE FIRE EATER at the Baxter Theatre. The production carries an age restriction of 14 and tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.