Theatre group Johannesburg Awakening Minds is providing a home and vocation for people who once begged for a living, writes Lesley Stones
Theatre group Johannesburg Awakening Minds is providing a home and vocation for people who once begged for a livingVoice of experience: Dorothy Ann Gould with Michael Mazibuko, who translates Shakespeare into isiZulu. Picture: LESLEY STONES
A group of men are rehearsing to perform at St James Preparatory School in Jeppestown and for a paying audience at Piza e Vino restaurant in Melville. In the collective recitation of a poem, their strong voices beat out the rhythm in unison. Then they individually recite a poem or a piece they have penned themselves, powerful and emotive as they capture destitute lives on the city streets.
“I really got sad driving on Empire Road and seeing people begging and people winding up their windows and looking ahead as if there was nobody there. I wanted to build the confidence of as many people as I could and let them know that they have the right to speak,” Gould says.Gradually the weekly theatre classes gave them self-respect, dignity and ambition. But when you have never had a voice, it takes time and courage to find it.
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