Review: BEGARRED IN SA: A PLAY ON THE FRINGES OF SOCIETY

BEGARRED IN SA, written by Stewart Clarke, is the true story of Clarke’s experience of homelessness. Directed by Gideon de Wet and starring Sean Higgs, this one-man show is an intimate examination of the mental, physical, emotional, social and psychological effects of living on the street.

The show begins with the Beggar arriving at his robot for his day of begging. He holds up his sign and has a frank conversation with the audience.

The show explores the events leading up to how this character, Stewart, has now become “the Beggar” and the new life he crafts to survive. Stewart is a hairdresser who is down on his luck and who becomes homeless after an accumulation of factors including his divorce, the Cape Town drought, a lack of jobs, and the theft of his savings. The audience is brought into the Beggar’s confidence and learns how, after his sleeping on a bench, Stewart moves to a township and rents a shack, becoming a part of the community and doing his best to earn a living.

As earlier stated, the show takes the form of a casual conversation between the Beggar and the audience. For the most part this works – the Beggar is desperate to be seen, acknowledged and heard and seeks out anyone who will listen. While the piece is generally well-structured, near the end I felt the show lost a bit of its poignancy and could be cut a little bit to retain its hard-hitting effect.

I enjoyed the lighting and how the robot, whether flashing green or red, becomes almost like another character in the play, with whom the Beggar continuously has one-sided conversations. The robot’s lack of responses present us with an accusatory silence that underscores observations that are uncomfortable but true: such as drivers’ different reactions (or lack thereof) when stopping at the Beggar’s robot.

While the play explores one of South Africa’s most ubiquitous social ills and so is sometimes accordingly heavy, it is also very humorous at times. Indeed, Clarke is gifted with accents and shows off an array of different dialects when portraying conversations his character has with others.

Two experiences stood out to me. At one point, the Beggar describes how he relished his first hot meal in five months (macaroni and cheese) and “felt like a human again”. Another was when he performed excellent gardening work only to be paid a fraction of the going rate. When he disputed this he was told, “Ya but you’re a beggar” –  Ie take what you’re given. It’s a reminder to all of us to be grateful for the things that so many of us take for granted (daily hot meals etc) and also, to be kind – the reminder (which should be obvious but often isn’t) that those experiencing homelessness are equally human despite often being denied their humanity, identity and dignity.

BEGGARED IN SA has just completed its Cape Town run but begins its local and overseas tour as follows:

Plettenberg Bay Theatre:
Saturday 21 June
Sunday 22 June

National Arts Festival 2025  Makhanda:
Venue: Dicks (Upstairs in the Monument)
Monday 30 June 10:00 (10am)
Tuesday 1 July 14:00 (2pm)
Wednesday 2 July 18:30 (6:30pm)
Thursday 3 July 20:30 (8:30pm)
 

Edinburgh Festival 2025
1-23 August
Venue: The Bowlers Rest
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the duration of the festival

South Africa Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. JOSEPH (Theatre on the Bay)

42.4% of votes

2. MY FAIR LADY (Artscape Arena)

24.8% of votes

3. THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre)

19.2% of votes

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