‘KoKo’ solidifies Ulenga as local theatre’s brightest new star

ON a cold Friday evening, playwright Ndayola Ulenga opens the door to ‘Koko’, a semi(auto)-biographical performance that draws a full house to Windhoek’s Theatre School.

The crowd that squeezes into the intimate arena has been promised an evening with Ulenga, a rising theatre star, but gets more than they anticipated.

Opening with a duo of heartfelt performances by Siiri Jukkola and Jandjakuje Muundjua, two University of Namibia creative drama students, who recite pieces from ‘The Gaza Monologues’, ‘Koko’ pays homage to the Palestinian people and announces that some of the proceeds from the show will be pledged in support of Gaza.

While the monologues invite a melancholic and reflective tone, ‘KoKo’ begins with some levity as Ulenga emerges from backstage and begins to collect firewood from in-between the audience who lean into the change of pace.

Launching into stories from her mother’s childhood at Donkerhoek, Ulenga exuberantly ushers the audience into the past through a combination of song, narration, agile physicality and play.

The effect is compelling and as Ulenga travels across time and the space that is illustrated on the map behind her, the audience gets to experience that most precious of things, the stories of our parents.

Channelling the movements of her mother warming rocks to stave off the bitter cold as she walks miles to school, plays ball games or runs giddily from trouble, Ulenga walks in shoes that feel familiar, but which have been carried carefully from her childhood where her mother told tales of her own.

Hilarious in her list of township soccer rules, mostly aimed to appease the owner of the ball, Ulenga’s script is vivid, relatable and imbued with cheeky wit.

On stage, the actress is on her own, save a chair and a strip of cloth, but she seems to conjure worlds. Her mother’s which is all fun and games until the tragic day of a big soccer game, and her father’s amid Namibia’s struggle for independence.

Supported by the excellent Chris Eiseb on percussion, the world of ‘KoKo’ is built from the sound of music, of Ulenga singing her heart out and of helicopters flying over a war zone as her father lies bleeding, shot by the South African Defence Force in the winter of 1976.

Seamlessly transitioning into this winter through a change of demenour and a sharp, forward march, Ulenga embodies the story of Namibia and of her father proudly and with an affecting last act of defiance before bursting into song.

Reimagining Namibian folk music, popular songs and composing beautiful ones of her own, Ulenga is a fantastic force of nature that holds the audience in the palm of her hand from her very first word.

‘KoKo’ is a triumph. But as creative collaborator Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja (Owela Live Arts Collective Trust) opens the floor for questions, one notes that it is also an inspiration to gather and tell our parents’ stories.

The questions that emanate from the session are asked in awe of how Ulenga got her parents to open up and allow these, sometimes painful, stories to be told.

The playwright credits the fact that her parents are storytellers themselves, her father a creative and a poet, her mother, introverted but having told Ulenga some of the featured stories since childhood.

“They were quite willing and happy to share, and I think they believe very much in passing the stories on and the continuation of African oral tradition,” says Ulenga.

Many of Ulenga’s family members are in the audience and her parents saw the play the night before.

Of their reaction, Mushaandja remarks that he thinks Ulenga’s parents appreciated their stories being told and felt, “Oh, we are not forgotten”.

A poignant, buoyant and beautiful homage to those who came before us as well as an invitation to archive our own family histories, ‘KoKo’ sees Ulenga solidify her place as local theatre’s brightest new star.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com

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