The production arrived at Maitisong on Saturday as one stop on a five-country Southern African tour, with Gaborone hosting the performance for one night only.Directed and choreographed by Matthieu Nieto, with dramaturgy by South African poet Koleka Putuma, PEPONI explores the idea of paradise through dance, theatre, poetry, media and audience participation.The title draws from Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel Paradise, with peponi meaning paradise or heaven in Swahili.But this is no conventional journey towards heaven. Instead, the production dismantles the idea of paradise and rebuilds it as something personal, political and distinctly African.There is no conventional storyline to PEPONI. No clearly identifiable protagonist or antagonist. Instead, the production unfolds as a non-linear fever dream, with scenes arriving suddenly and often without explanation. The effect is disorienting, but deliberately so.Seven dancers and thespians occupy the stage throughout much of the performance, yet their energy makes the space feel considerably larger. They jump, twist, contort and move with purpose, shifting effortlessly between contemporary movement, theatre, storytelling and slapstick. There is never a dull moment.The performers embody different characters without announcing them by name or relying on conventional characterisation. Their identities emerge through movement, language and action, allowing each character to exist independently within the larger dreamscape.One of the production’s most effective devices is its recurring use of media and broadcast technology. The audience is repeatedly re-positioned: sometimes as radio listeners, sometimes as television viewers and, during one particularly energetic sequence, as spectators at a fashion show.This framing gives PEPONI an almost otherworldly quality. At times, the production feels like a broadcast from purgatory; a strange waiting room between life and death. Its abrupt transitions reinforce that sensation, with the various segments landing almost like sucker punches.The idea of paradise is also treated as a commodity. In one sequence, a radio advertisement sells paradise through the language of tourism, promising fulfillment through travel while simultaneously feeding into the fetishisation of an African paradise. The destination becomes a product, and paradise becomes something that can be purchased.Religion receives similar scrutiny. Various faith systems appear to compete for followers in a hectic, almost marketplace-like environment, each offering its own version of salvation and fulfillment. The production raises uncomfortable questions about religious manipulation and the power of promising people a better existence beyond this one.Sexuality provides another interpretation of paradise. Through the juxtaposition of contemporary dance and poetry, PEPONI explores sexual liberation, bodily autonomy and the right to determine one's own boundaries. The performance becomes an argument for bodily and intellectual sovereignty.The production also made deliberate space for a Motswana creative. Poet, Motlatsi Mogorosi appeared midway through the performance with a moving poem addressing African identity, exploitation and the continent’s future. Her words offered reassurance to Africa’s children while connecting directly to the production’s larger interrogation of what paradise might mean on the continent.For a production travelling across Southern Africa, its arrival in Botswana felt particularly fitting. PEPONI is deeply interested in who gets to construct narratives about Africa, who benefits from those narratives and what it might mean for Africans to imagine something different for themselves.Ultimately, PEPONI refuses to define paradise for its audience. Instead, it leaves them with a question that is deceptively simple: What does paradise mean to you, and what does it look like?
