William Kentridge: Refuse The Hour

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo PHOTOS John Hodgkiss

Come end of February 2015, Cape Town will be buzzing. One of the highlights to look forward to in this month of art and design is Refuse The Hour, a William Kentridge chamber opera that has been described as “an aesthetic and philosophical stage dream”.

The multi-layered 80 minute performance sees Kentridge, who is arguably one of South Africa’s most successful artists of all time, working together with renowned, eclectic dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo, along with an international cast of 12 dancers, musicians, performers and vocalists. Long time Kentridge collaborators, Phillip Miller and Catherine Meyburgh will also be on hand for the score and video. 

Kentridge himself will deliver a narrative, beginning with the “ancient Greek Myth of Perseus, and ending with Einstein amidst a Dadaist pandemonium of sounds and images”.  Refuse The Hour is a theatrical accompaniment to the artist’s five-screen multimedia installation, Refusal Of Time, which received critical acclaim at London’s Tate Modern.

“Design Indaba is delighted to present the South African debut of William Kentridge’s masterpiece,” says the founder and CEO of Design Indaba, Ravi Naidoo. “This is just one of several projects that Design Indaba is currently supporting as we increasingly shift our focus from just providing a platform to being an enabling cultural producer.”

DATES: 26, 27 and 28 February 2015

VENUE: Cape Town City Hall

TICKET PRICE: R400

Tickets are available through Computicket. Seats for each performance are limited to 500 people.