April 13, 2002

The Mystery of "The Mysteries"

I was intrigued by the title and the format of a new play in London, "The Mysteries." With a cast entirely from Africa speaking in four different languages, I naturally assumed that the play would center on native African folklore, right? The first page of the program seemed to support this expectation:

"The music for this production has been mainly gathered from ancient and modern Xhosa, Afrikaans, Zulu and Dutch sources. The musical tradition in South Africa is uniquely diverse, rich, and predominantly vocal. Thus the score is vocally based and instruments, such as they are, are found objects, mostly from scrapyards. Performers sing and speak in their mother tongue--there are a number of languages of which the dominant four are English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu."

So I settled into my seat, prepared to feast on a new culture and new myths. But to my surprise, "The Mysteries" refers to a series of passion plays and Bible stories that used to be performed as medieval street theater. What I saw unfolding on the stage were western Bible stories: from the Creation, Garden of Eden, flood, and Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all told in a uniquely and wonderfully African style.

The cast were not just Africans but South Africans, mostly black but some white, all speaking in different languages. The actor who portrayed God and Jesus slipped back and forth between English and his native Xhosa with its rich cadence and distinctive clicks, providing just enough English for the audience to follow the story. I've read the New Testament so many times that the text came to me in the language of Shakespeare and King James, even as I heard it in Zulu and Afrikaans. The language washed over me, enveloping me in the story in a transcendent, sensory way, as indeed the King James language itself does (often I think the KJV needs translation into modern language. When I'm reading it, I sometimes think to myself, I don't know exactly what this means, but I love the way it sounds!)

The distinctly African music and dance added to this sense of mystery and wonder--bare stage, simple, every day costumes, instruments made of bottles, sticks, and trash cans. Most of all, the multiplicity of languages added to my understanding of the gospels. Here were people speaking to each other in words that didn't match, yet they were understanding each other on a level that went deeper than simple language. Significantly, these were people from a country where a few short years ago they could not have performed together on a stage, yet here they were with a white Adam and a black Eve, a black Abraham and a white female Isaac. The point: The plan of salvation truly transcends all barriers of race, culture, language. South Africa has been torn by both racial strife and intertribal strife, yet here were South Afrikaaners of multiple cultures joyously retelling the story of resurrection, literally baring their souls in the process.

In a word: Magnificent.

-- Jo Ann Skousen

email: jaskousen@mskousen.com

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