MIES Julie sees August Strindberg's classic tale of class, love and lust transposed to post-apartheid South Africa. Thandiwe Nofirst Lungisa, who provides the live soundtrack, talks to Robert Cumber.
THANDIWE Nofirst Lungisa experienced first hand the devastating impact of apartheid when white farmers stole her family's cattle and tore down their huts.
She believes music played a crucial role in highlighting to the world the brutal oppression by South Africa's white ruling classes, ended when Nelson Mandela became the country's first black president in 1994.
Nearly 20 years later, she is one of the stars of Mies Julie, a hit adaptation of August Strindberg's drama Miss Julie, shifting the action from a 19th century Swedish country estate to a farm in modern-day South Africa.
The musician, from the Nogoko Cultural Group, provides an evocative soundtrack of traditional Xhosa music on stage, overlaid by a sinister soundscape from Daniel and Matthew Pencer.
The hard-hitting play, which addresses the country's difficult transition from apartheid, is recommended for over-16s only due to its 'strong adult themes and nudity'.
It went down a storm at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival and comes to Hammersmith's Riverside Studios on the back of successful productions in New York and Johannesburg.
Lungisa knows only too well the destruction which was routinely wrought under apartheid.
"Our cattle were taken and our rondavels (huts) were taken down. We were promised that all those things will be rebuilt but nothing happened till today," she says.
"We could not report this theft anywhere because the police were white and therefore our cases were never recorded. The whole area had to start building from scratch."
Mies Julie takes place in a remote South African farmhouse, where a brutal encounter unfolds between a black farm labourer, John, and his white master's daughter, Julie.
Set 18 years after the end of apartheid, the explosive episode exposes the still smouldering aftermath of five decades of racial segregation.
"The play is hard hitting but understandable. It is South African in all aspects. I identify a lot with Christine (John's mother), especially when she has to deal with the ancestor. It is a very painful experience. I have witnessed it back home," says Lungisa.
The singer's passion for Xhosa music came from her parents, having been passed down through the generations, and she believed it played a role in the struggle against apartheid.
"Messages were sent through music and an understanding of our lives were interpreted to the whole world through music," she says.
Mies Julie opened yesterday (Thursday, March 3) at the Riverside Studios and runs until May 19. Tickets, priced £20-30, are available at www.riversidestudios.co.uk or from the box office on 020 8237 1111.
