MATTHEW MACFARLANE MUSIC

Germany at Hillbrow’s doorstep in ground-breaking musical theatre collaboration In what will be a first in music theatre history, audiences from two cities will experience a new operatic composition, streamed simultaneously in Johannesburg and Bielefeld Germany. At Your Doorstep / Vor Deiner Tür is a contemporary opera/ musical theatre work for young audiences that traces the political concerns, private needs as well as the hopes and dreams for happiness of young people on two continents. Achamber opera in two parts, the music is created by South African composer Matthew MacFarlane and Swiss composer Marc L. Vogler with a libretto by Robert Lehmeier. Crafted through a participatory process, with input from young people who attended libretto workshops in Bielefeld and Hillbrow, the work explores digital friendships and virtual relationships while teasing out the tensions of race, class, and the potential dangers of online engagement. The production goes live on the 29th March till the 5th April. “This is one of the most unique and interesting projects I have had the pleasure of being involved in,” says South African composer Matthew MacFarlane. “It is something that has truly emerged from our current way of life in a global sense.” The storyline involves 4 characters – two young people, a brother and sister, who have crossed many African borders and now find themselves residing in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. And a young girl, confined to her bedroom struggling with anxiety disorder, who lives with her mother in Bielefeld, Germany. The young girls interact with the world through their smart phones, and by chance connect and become friends. One day the brother interrupts a conversation and befriends the German girl and a relationship develops. Both dream of meeting each other although the German mother expresses her fear and Afrophobia. At Your Doorstep / Vor Deiner Tür is a portrayal of the fears, hopes and expectations of young people on both continents, the challenges of coming together via social media and what happens when they decide to leave their safe Internet bubble and the virtual becomes real….  The project is the third part and conclusion of the chamber opera series First Contact, which the Bielefeld Theater was able to bring to life as a result of the New Path profile funding from the NRW Cultural Secretariat and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. A key part of the cultural exchange is the input from youth groups. Young people from Muth Musiktheater Jugendclub in Bieleveld, Germany and the Windybrow Arts Centre, Hillbrow took part in libretto-writing workshops. The first Johannesburg workshop facilitated by Gerard Bester, July Zuma and Robert Lehmeier took place in December 2021. In this participatory process Sandile Dube, Tamia Banda, Brandon MacDonald (South Africa) and Malin Kissing (Germany) contributed texts for the libretto with ideas from both groups, to create a libretto that authentically traces the political concerns, private needs and hopes and dreams of young people on two continents. This development process will continue up to the premiere of the show thus allowing young students to fully participate in all fields of the theatrical production. “At Your Doorstep was a mind-blowing experience for me,” says Tamia Banda, a 17-year-old participant from Hillbrow. “I was exposed to a universe full of creativity. You could exploit any idea you feel like.” 17-year-old Richard Sandile Dube agrees: “It was an amazing workshop, it really opened my mind. Before, I thought the arts was just expressing yourself with your body, but I learned about extending it through music, and creating. I liked that my ideas – about Catfish and online relationships, were used in the script.” After hearing a reading of the first draft libretto by Kwasha actors, one Hillbrow participant upended the colonial stereotype of African child longing to go to Germany, arguing that the German girl should come to Hillbrow instead, to be healed of her anxiety disorder. (courtesy of The Market Theatre)