Skip to main content

ME LIKES: Death of a Colonialist

Imagine your mother tells you she has cancer and a few months to live. You are on the other side of the world and there is nothing you can do about it. You worry about your father and wonder how he is going to cope. The illness and death of a mother hangs in the air but the focus is on the father - typical of the patriarchal society we live in!


PHOTO: Ruphin Coudyzer, Thanks to Market Theatre 


Expect all that and more in Death of a Colonialist at the Market Theatre (on until16 October 2011).
Jamie Bartlett of ETV’s Rhythm City (David Genero) does an amazing job of keeping me glued to his crazy antics as Harold Smith, the not so normal father and husband.

Set in Grahamstown, Harold is a passionate history teacher who gets too excited when teaching the history of amaXhosa. He lives with his very supporting wife and has two children living in Australia and Canada (ran away from S.A because of crime).

I felt out of sorts watching this butch white man loosing grip of his family and slowly his job. There was a lot of heartbreak on stage – this was actually a gloomy play. South African issues such as the change of leaders, crime and race are sub-themes in the production.

Humorous at times, expect a history lesson and some insight on white fear and as well as the white man who still believes in South Africa regardless of his placing in it.

PHOTO: Ruphin Coudyzer, Thanks to Market Theatre 

But what hit home for me was the dark cloud that hung is the air of a dying mother and wife. The realisation that she was the one holding things together and the question of how they would all cope without her – that was an amazingly powerful message.
The role of a woman, most of the time undermined, is essential and great.

Labels:

Comments

  1. Shotta7 October 2011 at 10:55

    Will mos def make time to go watch. Big ups for the review.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Curious Case of Pinky Pinky: The Toilet Tokoloshe

There was once a Tokoloshe, her name was Pinky Pinky – she lived in the girls’ school toilets, sang a song that introduced her and told you about her parents. She’d then end the song by demanding you give her something. Thanks to Pinky Pinky, her choice of location and her singing – I've yet to feel completely comfortable using public toilets. I first heard about Pinky Pinky when I was in Sub A (now known as Grade 1). She terrorized girls my age, demanding money or (as I recently heard) stole their panties. I think she’d also want whatever pink item you had on you. If you couldn't give in to Pinky Pinky’s demands – you were in big trouble. I don’t remember the details of what she’d do to you but what I knew is that it would be painful. Pinky Pinky was so dangerous she even made it into a national newspaper – although they used a blurry picture. There were different stories told about how she looked – none mentioned a beautiful creature. Her looks were things horror mo...
23 comments
Read more

Book Review: London, Cape Town, Joburg

What a miserable ending to a really soul capturing novel! London, Cape Town, Joburg by ZukiswaWanner had me hooked from day one but I must say, I was never really ready for that ending – plot twist of note. To be fair, the story starts with two parents mourning their only son who had committed suicide. From the onset you know that something really bad must have happened for a thirteen-year-old to kill himself but before the author lets us in on the reason, she takes us through one of the best, heart-warming, authentic love stories I have read in a while. Martin O’Malley and Germaine Spencer, are two imperfect people who come together and build what seems like a perfect nest. They understand each other, defend each other, fight, make up, have loads of sex and most importantly love and respect one another. I loved every moment of their love story. From the insecurities, jealous moments, moving from city to city and how they grew into such cool, yet strict parents. Wanner t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play Review: Asinamali!

*Black Humour : “ humour that deals with unpleasant aspects of life in a bitter or ironic way” Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Oh what a show! Set in a South African prison during Apartheid; five prisoners tell us how they ended up behind bars. One man stutters, another believes that he was falsely accused, another was back-stabbed by a cousin, another idolized a con man and another had an affair with his employer's wife. While watching the multi-awards winning South African classic play, Asinamali, I experienced a bitter/sweet moment. The sweet was all the laughing I was doing; the bitter was the fact that Apartheid was a dehumanising cruel system. Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Written by the legendary Mbongeni Ngema , Asinamali was inspired by the 1983 rent strike in Lamontville Township, KwaZulu-Natal. Led by activist Msizi Dube the people of Lamontville wanted the government to know “we do not have money” ( Asinamali ) when rent was increas...
1 comment
Read more