JASON JACOBS | In Wag Van

In Wag Van performed in the first half of 2016 at Theatre Arts. In 2017 Jason was awarded the Kunste Onbeperk Nuwe Stem award and was commissioned to bring 3 productions to KKNK. In Wag Van performed alongside Stof Rooi and Kalahari Swaan.

Presented in partnership with Distell and the Baxter Theatre Centre
Written and directed by Jason Jacobs
Designed by Jason Jacobs
Lighting Design by Kieran McGregor
Performed by Courtney Smith, Gantane Kusch, Gershwin Mias, Vathiswa Nodlayiya
Mentored by Heinrich Reisenhofer
Photos by Jesse Kramer

Directors Note:

Die vol maan rondomtalie met haar gesig, ‘n antieke skedel wat sommige glo die dood van kinders aankondig. Dalk is dit die vrees vir dood wat hulle sou raaksien, die aand toe die maan bewegingloos in die nag gaan stilhou.

I grew up listening to my mother, her mother and grandmother. Our way of speaking was normal to us, fragmented and many a times made up. Passionately read by Ouma in church, angrily yelled by Mammie at home and sporadically preached by our late Ma Hester. When they spoke, it was as if an army of prophets spoke through them. One speech from a woman in my family had the power to break and heal you at the same time. Perhaps my work is a result of actively listening and being able to express how those words affected me? How my mothers viewed the world, how their words created and reacted to conflict; by only speaking they imparted fear.

Today, many find themselves silenced out of fear. Fear that reporting the truth may result in threats and even death. We find ourselves in a place where the only alternative is to wait. To wait for some magical higher power to come and save us from evil, destroying the lives of our youth.