Germany at Hillbrow’s doorstep in ground-breaking musical theatre collaboration
In what will be a first in music theatre history, audiences from two cities will experience a new operatic composition, streamed simultaneously in Johannesburg and Bielefeld Germany. At Your Doorstep / Vor Deiner Tür is a contemporary opera / musical theatre work for young audiences that traces the political concerns, private needs as well as the hopes and dreams for happiness of young people on two continents. A chamber opera in two parts, the music is created by South African composer Matthew MacFarlane and Swiss composer Marc L. Vogler with a libretto by Robert Lehmeier. Crafted through a participatory process, with input from young people who attended libretto workshops in Bielefeld and Hillbrow, the work explores digital friendships and virtual relationships while teasing out the tensions of race, class, and the potential dangers of online engagement. The production goes live on the 29th March till the 5th April.
“This is one of the most unique and interesting projects I have had the pleasure of being involved in,” says South African composer Matthew MacFarlane. “It is something that has truly emerged from our current way of life in a global sense.”
The storyline involves 4 characters – two young people, a brother and sister, who have crossed many African borders and now find themselves residing in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. And a young girl, confined to her bedroom struggling with anxiety disorder, who lives with her mother in Bielefeld, Germany. The young girls interact with the world through their smart phones, and by chance connect and become friends. One day the brother interrupts a conversation and befriends the German girl and a relationship develops. Both dream of meeting each other although the German mother expresses her fear and Afrophobia. At Your Doorstep / Vor Deiner Tür is a portrayal of the fears, hopes and expectations of young people on both continents, the challenges of coming together via social media and what happens when they decide to leave their safe Internet bubble and the virtual becomes real….
The project is the third part and conclusion of the chamber opera series First Contact, which the Bielefeld Theater was able to bring to life as a result of the New Path profile funding from the NRW Cultural Secretariat and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
A key part of the cultural exchange is the input from youth groups. Young people from Muth Musiktheater Jugendclub in Bieleveld, Germany and the Windybrow Arts Centre, Hillbrow took part in libretto-writing workshops. The first Johannesburg workshop facilitated by Gerard Bester, July Zuma and Robert Lehmeier took place in December 2021. In this participatory process Sandile Dube, Tamia Banda, Brandon MacDonald (South Africa) and Malin Kissing (Germany) contributed texts for the libretto with ideas from both groups, to create a libretto that authentically traces the political concerns, private needs and hopes and dreams of young people on two continents. This development process will continue up to the premiere of the show thus allowing young students to fully participate in all fields of the theatrical production.
“At Your Doorstep was a mind-blowing experience for me,” says Tamia Banda, a 17-year-old participant from Hillbrow. “I was exposed to a universe full of creativity. You could exploit any idea you feel like.”
17-year-old Richard Sandile Dube agrees:
“It was an amazing workshop, it really opened my mind. Before, I thought the arts was just expressing yourself with your body, but I learned about extending it through music, and creating. I liked that my ideas – about Catfish and online relationships, were used in the script.”
After hearing a reading of the first draft libretto by Kwasha actors, one Hillbrow participant upended the colonial stereotype of African child longing to go to Germany, arguing that the German girl should come to Hillbrow instead, to be healed of her anxiety disorder.
The cast consists of four singers: South African Tenor and Soprano (Brother and Sister) – July Zuma and Nokuthula Magubane, while a German Soprano and Mezzo (Daughter and Mother) will be played by Mayan Goldenfeld and Nohad Becker from Bielefeld. The singers will be accompanied by chamber orchestras from South Africa and Germany.
By combining live streaming and pre-recorded sound and film, this project heads towards new ways of producing and sharing music theatre. The live action on the stage in Bielefeld will be filmed / pre-produced and then projected in Johannesburg whilst the live action on stage in Johannesburg will be filmed / pre-produced and then projected in Bielefeld.
“This will be a first in terms of music theatre history – a coming together of South African and German audiences through high technology digital interlinking, to watch the live performance simultaneously,” explains librettist and director Robert Lehmeier.
Post-performance Question and Answer Sessions will connect the audiences in the Ramolao Makhene Theatre in Johannesburg and the audiences in the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle, Bielefeld, to promote intra-continental dialogue and cultural exchange between young people.
Lehmeier’s libretto authentically traces the political concerns, private needs as well as the hopes and dreams for happiness of young people on two continents. This is reflected in the specially composed music through the collaboration of a European and a South African composer.
Thank you to our partners in South Africa, Germany Embassy, Flame Studios and ASSSITEJ South Africa, for their support.
Production Information:
Librettist & Director : Robert Lehmeier
Musical Composition : Matthew MacFarlane (South Africa) and Marc L Vogler (Swiss)
Singers : Nokuthula Magubane, July Zuma, Mayan Goldenfeld, Nohan Becker
Film/Video Direction : Konrad Kästner
Stage And Costumes : Marie Luise Otto (Germany)
Karabo Legoabe (Stage – SA) & Nthabiseng Makone (Costume – SA)
Composition Supervisor : Cathy Milliken
Show Information:
Opening : 29 March 2023
Season : 30 March – 5 April 2023
Time : 11h00 (Sunday 2nd March 15h00)
Venue : Foyer – Rudolf-Oetker Hall, Theater Bielefeld / Ramolao Makhene Theatre, Market Theatre
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