‘Rise ’76’ confronts a generation haunted by how little it has done with its inherited freedom

Emotional texture: Zilungile Mbombo, Mfuneli Ntumbuka and Alex

Sono. The script is sharp, witty and moving. Photos: Fiona MacPherson

There are theatre productions that grab you by the throat in the first five minutes and refuse to let go. Then there are those that ask you to sit still, lean in and do the labour of remembering alongside them. Rise ’76, the ambitious new commemorative work by Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni, belongs firmly in the latter category.

Clocking in at roughly 140 minutes, Rise ’76 drifts dangerously close to becoming a staged oral archive rather than living theatre. Conversations linger. Testimonies expand. Historical detail piles onto historical detail. The script is sharp, witty and often profoundly moving but it is also indulgent in places.

One understands why Mashifane wa Noni’s first draft ran close to four hours.