Izithukuthuku explores the traumatic diminution of the soul of a migrant worker. Using the percussive sound and the rhythms created by the industrial machinery that is the city, this production lends itself to some indigenous dances that draw parallels to stepping by depicting aural and sonic grammars of urban life. 

Using isiPantsula and several traditional dance forms (ndlamu, setapa, tsutsube, toitoi) as a quilt for the rhythm of protest activism, Izithukuthuku draws on the violence of capitalism using the typewriter and the paper as the symbols of instructive language. This is counterpointed by the sound of the sewing machine as the lament of the working class attempting to survive with less and adapting to the downfalls of retrenchments, inflation, credit crunch and diminishing jobs. The sound of the beer crates represents the train, not just as a worker's ferry but an unrelenting machine of industrialization that feeds on the productive souls with no care at all.

Cities are, on the one hand, fulcrums of creativity and innovation, melting pots of different cultures and lifestyles, and cradles of new ideas and social practices. On the other hand, they are the sites of capitalism's most barbaric extremes of state repression and surveillance, of homelessness and destitution, of air, land and water poisoned by pollution, of exploitation and alienation. The more effective a city becomes as a profit-making machine for its wealthiest residents, the more everyone else is squeezed. The exploitation of workers is central to this, and the problems like urban sprawl, the scarcity and poor quality of housing, pollution and so on, are part of it too. 

Cities are where capitalism's uninterrupted disturbance and everlasting uncertainty and agitation are concentrated. In them are contained all the intensities and deep contradictions of this chaotic, crisis-ridden system. The working class face the brunt for little reward.

Since our cities are shaped by the insatiable appetite for profit of those at the top, rather than being planned and run for human need, the deep-seated problems of city life are likely to get worse. The profit system has proved itself unworthy to exist. And now, with global warming and other environmental crises, it threatens the very existence of the planet. Capitalism has been around since the 16th century. If it were capable of transforming into a humane and sustainable system, that would have happened by now! Izithukuthuku lays bare this brutality and exploitation.

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