Robyn Orlin's performance  "We must eat our suckers with the wrappers on..."  took place on the 7th October 8 pm at Cankerjev dom.

See short movie
See short movie 2

Gabriela Babnik had an interview with one of the dancers, Prince a day before the performance. Mateja Peroša recored it. 

Which language are you using in the performance?

It is Zulu language.

Is Zulu your mother's tongue?

Yes, specially from my father's side.

Why are you using suckers in the performance and what are the indications?

It is about issue that concerns all of us. It is about world issue. These suckers are actually a metaphor of a condom. Because we do have to protect ourselves. We are saying, use condoms for safer sex.

Why is it important to break down the forth wall in theatre? I mean, why do you involve with the public, enter their space?

Because this doesn't concern just us the actors, but mostly the public. At the end we are all involved with this problem and we all have to search for a solution.

Does this have anything to do with the way you see art in (South)Africa? Because as far as I know, social context in African art is very important?

Yeees, it is true. Africa is using art as a media that helps to infect people's minds, to give them direction, inspiration, to higlight our artistic representation. Because artists should be very close to people. Art is vital in human, social transformation and change.

But you are not didactic in this particular performance? In a sense of teaching, trying to tell what is it important or not?

I am with you. It is true, we are not trying to give solution or to give answers, only performing our images, red bucket for example is a simbol for blood, our story is like a journey of life. Read, or better to say all the simbols are like oil for our performance.

Why are you so minimalistic in your show, beside buckets, light, the screen, bodies, are you using some other requisites?

We are also using the dolls, camera and the light. But this minimalistic images you can understand in different ways. All the images on the stage are actually under the sun, somewhere, somehow we are always under the sun, we are all facing the sun and the sun is facing us, it is there. This disease somehow  functions  in the samethat we are facing here. Sun is a disease on its own. It is there, it is in transit of a blood. Why I am saying this is because now the disease affects everybody, even babies.

Is there someone who is excluded from this disease?

No, nobody is excluded, because this disease is not there just as a physical threat. People are affected in many ways, economicaly, spriritualy, psihologicaly, of course mostly in working class areas.

But it affects more the blacks?

It affects everybody but it terms of maturity, it depends where we are staying, poverty is of course also included.

Is this your first performance or you have been working before?

Yes, I have been working before, touring around the world but when we started with this peace I went in school of art 1999 / 2000, than we had workshop with Robyn Orlin who is the director of this production. She came to us and said to us, come with a red object and all came with different red objects and we were trying to tell different story and she said just do what you can do and after the power of ability chose the entire film, not just on the stage but fussing the storeis and elements of life in theatre.

And you have been dancing traditional dance since school?

Yes, of course, this is part of our education, part of what we are.

That's way it is so important for this performance to include traditonal dancing and beat as part of a message of the performance?

Yes, it is part of a message, it is part of a movement, part of our beat, South African spirit, it is a spirit that moves our nation, the dance, the beat, to use the beat is like defining that spirit of our people, their passions, their dreams, their hope as well, included in the dance, because we are dancing in the soul.

Thank you for the interview.