April 11, 2005 -

Theatre at its most powerful, the word catharsis was invented to describe such glorious work
The Guardian (London)

Ottawa -- A Woman in Waiting has delighted, enraged and warmed the hearts of audiences since it was first brought to the stage in 1999 at the National Arts Festival in South Africa.  Since then, it has toured extensively to Britain and elsewhere, and has garnered many prizes, including the prestigious Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, an FNB Vita Award for best script, and a Sony Academy Award for Best Radio Drama; Thembi Mtshali has won awards for her incredible performance from The Manchester Evening Standard, and a Best Actress Award at the Carthage Festival.  A deeply collaborative work, this play by Farber Foundry Artistic Director Yael Farber and internationally-acclaimed South-African performer, singer, playwright Thembi Mtshali, is based on the life story of Mtshali, and tells a profoundly personal and yet universal story of the women of South Africa under apartheid – the women in waiting.  NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Marti Maraden saw this amazing play at Harbourfront’s 2002 World Stage Festival and decided then and there that she wanted to bring the play to Ottawa audiences.

A Woman in Waiting runs April 12 to 23 (Preview is on April 11) in the NAC Studio, with performances at 20:00 and Saturday matinees on April 16 and 23 at 14:00.  Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office in person, or through Ticketmaster at (613) 755-1111 or though the Ticketmaster link at www.nac-cna.ca (a surcharge applies to all purchases made through Ticketmaster).

A Woman in Waiting is a powerful testament to the struggles of the black women of South Africa during apartheid.  The story is based largely on the life experiences of Thembi Mtshali, a highly respected stage artist who, like generations of Zulu women before her, spent her early life caring for the babies of the privileged white women of Durban. Her own child, meanwhile, was raised in the Zulu townships by relatives dependent on her income.  Told with superb storytelling in a one-woman powerhouse performance, the play is less about one-woman, than it is about the stoicism and self-sacrifice of the thousands of women who lost children, husbands and dreams to a brutal regime.

The idea that grew into Woman in Waiting was born when Yael Farber was living in New York. As she watched the broadcasts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings at home in South Africa, she was struck by the silent presence of the women who had come to listen.  Mothers, daughters, sisters, all waiting to hear what had happened to their loved ones, their sons, their husbands.  Farber was moved by what seemed to her to be the extraordinary capacity of black South African women to wait: to wait for truth to surface, to wait for a chance to speak their grief; to wait outside the gates of a police station, thirty years on,  to learn the truth about a disappeared husband.  It is a capacity for waiting that the director feels is particular to the South African condition, a tremendous ability of the women to contain their own emotional needs to do what needs to be done to survive.

Yael wanted to do something to honour that spirit.  She remembered the enormous talent of Thembi Mtshali (the two had worked together years before when Farber herself was performing) and approached her to become involved in creating the piece.  Mtshali, then living in Washington, was very interested in the project if funding could be found.  Farber has always been a strong believer that life’s opportunities present themselves when you take a leap of faith – sure enough, after much nail-biting suspense, funding for her project was approved and she was awarded a residency at the prestigious Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New York.  And so, two exceptional women came together to create a piece of theatre inspired by and based on their own personal experiences as women in South Africa, and on the experience under Apartheid of all South African woman.

Yael Farber’s modus operandi is always to connect very closely with her subject matter and with the actors she works with.  For her, the creative process must be one of trust and mutual respect.  As she and Thembi shared their often profoundly private life experiences, it became more and more apparent that Thembi’s personal story was, in itself, the most dynamic and perhaps truthful way of sharing what both women felt they wanted to say.  Farber credits Mtshali’s generosity as an artist and her bravery in resurrecting some difficult memories with providing the intimate, raw details that she, as director/editor would sift through and ultimately shape into the work on stage.  She believes it is her job to represent the audience in the process, to pull from the mass of material that which is most moving, most powerful, most altering.  Along with Farber’s honed script, it is Mtshali’s courage as a performer, her willingness to share what is most personal, that has resonated with audiences from Johannesburg to Edinburgh, that and her hugely appealing warmth and humour.

A Woman in Waiting is performed by Thembi Mtshali and directed and designed by Yael Farber.  Yael Farber’s lighting design for the production was adapted for the NAC by Rebecca Miller.  Sound Design is by Jo Arthur and Victor Masondo.  The Production Coordinator is Sally Crate.

A Woman in Waiting was originally produced by Yael Farber, commissioned by Africa Exchange, an international program of 651 ARTS, generously supported by the Ford Foundation.  The production was developed by The New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theatre.  The play will also appear in Canada, following its run at the NAC, as part of Harbourfront’s World Stage: Flying Solo Festival.

Tickets for Woman in Waiting are available at the NAC  Box Office in person or through Ticketmaster at 755-1111, and on-line through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s web site at www.nac-cna.ca  (a service charge applies to all purchases made through Ticketmaster). Students (with a valid student card) may purchase half-price tickets at the NAC Box Office only. Ticket prices are from $28.50 and $32.50 ($18 for Preview).  Students should visit the Live Rush™ page online at www.liverush.ca to find out how to obtain Live Rush seats ($9.50) available on a first-come, first-served basis after 18:00 on the day of performance. Groups of 20+ save up to 20% on NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances.  To book call 947-7000 ext: 384 or email grp@nac-cna.ca

The National Arts Centre English Theatre Studio Series is sponsored by the CanWest Global Foundation.  CBC Radio One 91.5 FM is Proud Media Partner of the Studio Series.

Woman in Waiting -  Listings Info.

• April 12-23 (Preview April 11) No performances Sundays or Mondays (aside from preview)
• NAC Studio
• 20:00 Tuesday through Saturday
• Saturday matinees 14:00, April 16, 23 
• Tickets available at NAC Box Office in person; through Ticketmaster 755-1111 or on-line through Ticketmaster link www.nac-cna.ca
• Tickets $28.50 and $32.50 (preview $18)
• Pre-Show Chat – An informal discussion before the Saturday Matinee performance Saturday, April 16 at 13:00 in the NAC Salon.  Guest Speaker: Yael Farber, Director 
• Thursday Talkbacks –  A Post-Performance Question and Answer session with the performer –Thursday, April 21

For more information contact:
Laura Denker,
Publicity and Media Relations Coordinator,
NAC English Theatre
(613) 947 7000 ext. 389;
ldenker@nac-cna.ca

Digital photography: Production images from Woman in Waiting are available for download in digital format (jpeg) at http://www.nac-cna.ca/media/ Just follow the links to Woman in Waiting