July 17, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
ACCOMPANIED by a cacophony of music, a huge screen flashes fleeting news images of war, famine and acts of brutality. As the music grows to a crescendo, a man, stark naked is hoisted upside down in front of the screen.
These are scenes from a production by Catherine Henegan, The Shooting Gallery, now playing at the Market Theatre's Laager Theatre. Shocking, graphic and a bit eerie, the play, described as "a digital ceremony for a war photographer", maps out the messed up life of a photo-journalist played by literary cult figure, Aryan Kaganof.
Catherine Henegan's The Shooting Gallery, at the Market Theatre, tracks the way media 'constructs and reconstructs' news and fiction
Aided by a computer and projection screen, the editor, Henegan, tracks the way media "constructs and reconstructs" news and fiction. The tragic protagonist, Kaganof, is a conflict photographer whose gruesome photos precipitate a moral dilemma. Haunted by what he has witnessed and his actions on duty, he struggles with his conscience and the ethics involved in this line of work.
The play was inspired by The Bang Bang Club by Joao Silva and Greg Marinovich, a book about a group of young photographers that became known for their shocking and close-up photos of violence in the townships prior to the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.
"In this group were Ken Oosterbroek and Kevin Carter. Oosterbroek was tragically killed in action in 1994, while Carter committed suicide shortly after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography also in 1994," says Henegan.
Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in South Africa and witnessing the transformation of the SABC from mouthpiece of a fascist regime, to the main manufacturer of new ideologies such as the Rainbow Nation and Simunye, Henegan says she is particularly interested how the media operates to shape people's consciousness.
Henegan's work revolves around video, performance and installation and she has worked in collaboration with visual artists, theatre-makers, filmmakers and musicians.
About the play, Henegan says: "If you can't see what's happening in front of you and around you, how could you expect to see your own nature? It is not by closing your eyes that you can see your own nature. On the contrary, you have to open your eyes and wake up to the real situation in the world - that is being able to see completely your whole Dharma body. The bombs, the hunger, the pursuit of wealth and power - these are not separate from your nature Hath Nanh."
The Shooting Gallery is an unusual piece of theatre that some may find fascinating through its use of multi-media, with others finding it disturbing because of the graphic details portrayed. It carries a nudity and violent images warning.
The play is on until 6 August at the Laager Theatre. For more information, contact the theatre's publicity department on 011 832 1641.
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