05/06/2021, 18.00 – 05/09/2021, 18.00 
Streaming

BLACK OFF

by Ntando Cele and Manaka Empowerment Productions
Idea and Concept: Ntando Cele (Durban/Bern)

 

Guest performance during FIND 2018

»Blackfacing« on stage or television always causes headlines. Ntando Cele turns the tables: in her stand-up concert performance »Black Off « her alter ego Bianca White steps onto the stage with her blonde wig, blue contact lenses and »whiteface«. White is a »Rhodie«, a white Zimbabwean globetrotter who gives self-help courses, meditates, is committed to helping children – and has even adopted some – and dreams of a white world where everyone can overcome their »inner and outer blackness«. Until Vera Black, a black punk, comes on stage...

Ntando Cele (*1980, Durban) was born in South Africa and is based in Bern, Switzerland. She studied acting in Durban and also attended DasArts in Amsterdam. Her work overturns the borders between Physical Theatre, video installation, concert and performance. She combines music, text and video to recreate her own identity on the stage. In » Black Off « she combines her previous works, » Face Off « and »Black Notice« and, with politically incorrect statements and jokes, addresses the hidden racism in everyday life. Gleefully dissecting prejudices and stereotypes, she confronts the audience with their own perceptions.

Composition: Simon Ho
Co-Direction and Sound: Raphael Urweider
Video: Ntando Cele
Lighting Design: Tonio Finkam
Technician: Maria Liechti
Head of production: Michael Röhrenbach

With: Ntando Cele (Acting, Singing), Patrick Abt (Guitar, Sidekick), Pit Hertig (Drums), Simon Ho (Piano)

Duration: ca. 120 minutes

An emblematic production of Bellini’s masterpiece on the stage of Metropolitan Opera, starring Radvanovsky as the Druid priestess and Joyce DiDonato as her archrival, Adalgisa - a casting coup for bel canto fans. Tenor Joseph Calleja is Pollione, Norma’s unfaithful husband, and Carlo Rizzi conducts. Sir David McVicar’s evocative production sets the action deep in a Druid forest where nature and ancient ritual rule.