UCT Drama Presents New Works Season with Plays by Neil McCarthy and Philip Rademeyer

After the success of 2015's Barney Simon Season, the UCT Drama Department will once again curate a season of plays from South Africa. The New Works Season sees senior students from the department take on two never-before-seen works by South African playwrights. The initiative responds to an ongoing need for new plays that reflect the current state of South Africa and use indigenous lenses to interpret and represent our world. New Works provides an opportunity to experience fresh new plays and for young actors to take on the challenge of interpreting new writing for contemporary audiences.

LANGALIBALELE - THE SCORCHING SUN, written by Neil McCarthy in English and Nguni, will be directed by Clare Stopford. This multi-lingual performance tells the story of the intriguing AmaHlubi King who had powers over the weather and was highly renowned and sought after as a rainmaker. He commanded a large and wide spread AmaHlubi group of clans, kept sovereignty by avoiding domination by the colonial powers as well as the Zulu Nation, and was finally imprisoned on Robben Island for defying British authorities in Natal. Few people today know that the Cape Town township Langa was named after Langalibalele, who was quite soon put under house arrest in the Cape and finally died back in his homeland near Estcourt. The play tracks the series of events that led to Langalibablele's arrest and travesty of a trial, sketches of colonialization through historical figures such as Pine, Shepstone, Francis Colenso and Durnford - portraits of personal and political ambition, occasional liberalism, ignorance and ineptitude, which resulted in tragedy for the AmaHlubi

PORTRET, an Afrikaans play by Philip Rademeyer, will be directed by Amy Jephta. Based on Oscar Wilde's THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GREY, Rademeyer examines a group of friends whose lives become increasingly disconnected and manipulated by an outside force. Dorian sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty, but the cost of being immortal ripples far beyond himself. When our lives are negotiated through screens and pixels, through avatars and social media, where do we end and where does the image begin?

LANGALIBALELE - THE SCORCHING SUN runs from 17-21 May at 20:00 in the Old Workshop on Hiddingh Campus. PORTRET runs from 18-21 May at 19:30 in the Little Theatre. Bookings can be made by emailing the Little Theatre office or by calling (021) 650 7129.