11 – 19 Oct 2025
11 – 19 Oct 2025
Production: Bridling
By: Diane de Beer
Photos: Jeremeo Le Cordeur
There’s no beating around the bush, the title tells you exactly what you’re dealing with. As a woman, I was bristling from the start.
Even in the year 2025, no woman will be unaware of her place in society, yes, even today in a world where equality is such a buzzword. But that’s exactly where it is happening – in words.
The intent is clear as the director (Shaun Oelf) places the bridle on the protagonist (Buhle Ngaba) expecting to manipulate and control the situation.
If you’re unsure of the meaning, the dictionary describes a bridle as the headgear used to control a horse, consisting of buckled straps to which a bit and reins are attached. (Just in case there should be any confusion, this one is made of black leather which states the sexual power in no uncertain terms.)
As in many playing fields, theatre is a misogynist’s dream, more specifically in the control of a male director with a female cast member. What drives the text is the female protagonist, who tells an almost stream-of-consciousness tale as she experiences her unease and severe discomfort in what was expected to be a safe space.
But those are sadly scarce and becoming more so with even just the word equality looming large. It seems to act like a clarion call to those afraid of losing their control.
The casting is excellent and the director perfect for Davids’s unusual and urgent treatise. What a delight to experience Ngaba’s seamless stream-of-consciousness meanderings as her confused yet crafty character struggles to come to grips with the antagonistic terrain she constantly yet determinedly needs to navigate. It’s a strong performance which never falters as she holds you powerfully in the palm of her hand.
To soften the blow, the director is played by the magnificent dancer Oelf, who mesmerises with his fluent dancing which speaks a language of a different kind. And especially here with the particular themes, it’s a clever way of suggesting certain societal inadequacies and a reluctance to let go of the patriarchal stranglehold.
There’s an originality about the staging, the text and the performances which is not unexpected from these participants yet it’s a breath of fresh air in a world that happily settles for mediocrity.
Not so Jay Pather. Although he acknowledges that everything has been done before, if anyone can find a fresh approach, he does. Witnessing one of his productions, you always know that you don’t know and that’s a gift. He engages his audience on a very different level and works with equal measures of mathematical mindfulness and a magnetic emotional heft that’s electrifying to watch.
With such a wordy text, you need the impact of the performers to be very detailed and specific and that’s exactly what this duo does.
Bridling deals in hefty concepts which compelled the director to use a light hand with the staging. He achieves this with his performers who understand the context and the intent of this particular style of storytelling.
I’m not quite sure how he does it, but he captures the essence of the Davids text in a way that holds your attention as the performers excel in telling this excruciating yet salient story.
*
Bridling
16 OCT 17:00 | 18 OCT 20:30 | 19 OCT 15:30
HMS Bloemhof School Hall
