Winnie Mandela's Football Team / Ruth Kanner Theater

Based on a story by Dahlia Ravikovitch

Vinnie Mandela’s Football Team is not exactly a football team—not really. And the stage work is neither about football nor about Vinnie Mandela. At its center is the story of one woman trying to survive ruthless power structures. And yet the images of power, masculinity, and the unequivocal nature of victory that emerge from football matches make their way into the story. Thus, broadcasts of World Cup football matches also invade the performance, playing within it intermittently, live.

Mythic forces encounter everyday life in another story by Ravikovitch, author of Where Did Judge Y.H. Poraz Disappear?, featuring an apocalyptic vision of revenge by the woman who “neither forgot nor forgave.”

“Why do they call the group of boys guarding Vinnie a football team? Maybe they play football? But they play other games too; they dedicate their lives to Vinnie—and God knows what Vinnie gives them in return.”
(From the story “Vinnie Mandela’s Football Team”)

About the Theater

At the heart of the work of the Ruth Kanner Theater Group is the place where we live: its colors, sounds, and stories, and the people seeking their existence, happiness, and future within it. The group’s creative processes draw primarily on literary and documentary sources, creating stage adaptations that seek to express the nature of the landscape, the nature of humanity, and shifting perspectives on the local narrative. The group’s theatrical language weaves together movement, visual imagery, and work through speech acts. The group dedicates its work to creating art that strives to uncover and give powerful expression to the profound struggles of the human condition.

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A stage work by Ruth Kanner, with Shirley Gal, Ronen Babloki, and Adi Meirovitz

Design: Kinneret Kish
Lighting: Shaked Vaks
Music: Ilan Green
Production: Ayala Moses