{"id":16933,"date":"2014-04-05T09:06:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T16:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=16933"},"modified":"2014-04-05T09:06:58","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T16:06:58","slug":"drunk-husbands-and-environmental-issues-a-brief-note-on-the-south-african-adaptation-of-brittens-noah-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/04\/drunk-husbands-and-environmental-issues-a-brief-note-on-the-south-african-adaptation-of-brittens-noah-opera.html","title":{"rendered":"Drunk husbands and environmental issues: a brief note on the South African adaptation of Britten’s Noah opera"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Last September<\/a>, I noted that Mark Dornford-May\u2019s short film Unogumbe<\/a><\/i>, based on Benjamin Britten\u2019s Noye\u2019s Fludde<\/i>, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film has continued to play at festivals since then \u2014 appearing at the Berlinale<\/a> in February, for example \u2014 but it has not, to my knowledge, played anywhere near me<\/i> yet, nor am I aware of any plans to distribute the film, even online.<\/p>\n

The Boston Globe<\/a><\/i> now has an article on the film which, interestingly enough, is not tied to any screening of the film in that city but, rather, was prompted by a live performance of Britten\u2019s opera by a local choir this weekend.<\/p>\n

After a brief nod to that upcoming performance \u2014 and another brief nod to the opera\u2019s appearance in Wes Anderson\u2019s Moonrise Kingdom<\/i> (2012) \u2014 the story turns to a phone interview with Unogumbe<\/i>\u2019s musical director:<\/p>\n

A more recent film takes the piece in an even more unusual direction. \u201cUnogumbe \u2014 Noye\u2019s Fludde\u201d was made last year by the South African theater group Isango Ensemble<\/a>, which takes Western artworks and re-creates them in ways that speak to the country\u2019s township culture. In the case of \u201cNoye\u2019s Fludde,\u201d that means the vocal parts are sung in Xhosa, Noah is a woman and his \u201cwife\u201d a man, and the score is played by an ensemble of percussion instruments. The 33-minute film is a delight, and the setting in a South African township gives the story an extra quantum of moral force.<\/p>\n

Though \u201cUnogumbe\u201d (Xhosa for \u201cdeluge\u201d) has not yet been picked up for international release, it was an official selection for the Toronto International Film Festival last year, as well as for this year\u2019s Berlin International Film Festival. Mandisi Dyantyis, Isango Ensemble\u2019s music director, said in a phone interview that the group was hoping wider distribution would follow.<\/p>\n

The idea, he said, had come from the Britten-Pears Foundation itself, which was looking for groups to take on projects during the centennial year and had liked some of Isango\u2019s earlier work. The group looked at a few of Britten\u2019s works and decided on \u201cNoye\u2019s Fludde\u201d in part because of its biblical roots, \u201cso everyone can relate to it. But it\u2019s also a story of great hope, and so when we looked at it as a company, we sort of instinctively gravitated toward that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most radical change in \u201cUnogumbe\u201d from the original is the gender switch. \u201cA lot of families in South Africa, they\u2019re tended to by women,\u201d Dyantyis explained. \u201cWe wanted to highlight the fact that a lot of kids in South Africa are brought up by single mothers.\u201d In the film, Noah\u2019s husband is a drunken layabout who almost can\u2019t be bothered to board the ark \u2014 now a submarine-like contraption \u2014 and save himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an easy thing to say, \u2018the father this, the father that,\u2019\u2009\u201d Dyantyis added. \u201cBut in many instances, men don\u2019t pull their weight. And we wanted to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what kind of story \u201cUnogumbe\u201d is telling, how it makes \u201cNoye\u2019s Fludde\u201d relevant for their culture, Dyantyis said, \u201cWe look at the world today, with the excess of everything, and people who have a lot and people who have nothing, that gap. And we sort of looked at it like, if God would come today, clearly that\u2019s one of the things God would sort out. The waste \u2014 there are people who are watering their gardens, stuff like that, whereas [another] person doesn\u2019t have enough to drink. So maybe God is irritated with waste, with global warming, with all these things that are happening. And that\u2019s why he would bring the flood.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the music, it sounds shockingly natural when arranged for marimbas and other percussion instruments. Dyantyis said that he tries to stick as closely to the score as possible, and in doing so, \u201ca lot of things will fit themselves in.\u201d He teaches his arrangements to members of the ensemble both by ear and by writing out notated parts \u2014 whatever method will best convey the urgency of the narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get into the story. And we make the story important, we make what we want to say about this piece of music important. And in teaching the ensemble, I always try to preserve this, to say, sing [this part] like this. At the end of the day, you should tell a story when you\u2019re singing it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the trailer for Unogumbe<\/i> that I posted last year:<\/p>\n