Jordan Baker, Desmond Dube & More to Star in I SEE YOU at Royal Court Theatre
By: Tyler Peterson Jan. 26, 2016
Award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni makes her directorial debut. With design by Soutra Gilmour, lighting by Richard Howell, sound by Giles Thomas and movement by
Luyanda Sidiya. I See You runs from Thursday 25 February 2016 - Saturday 26 March 2016 in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs and then at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg.
Desmond Dube, Lunga Radebe and Luyanda Sidiya are all based in South Africa.
Based on a real encounter, I See You addresses the questions of a new generation of South Africans encountering their country's traumatised past.
"Speak to me in your mother-tongue and I will let you go."
Post-Apartheid South Africa, after dark.
Ben meets Skinn for a night out. But the party is interrupted by the police. Ben, a young student who doesn't know his own history, is accused of a crime he didn't commit. And Officer Buthelezi, a former freedom fighter, can't let it go.
"I don't need your sorries white boy. Yes, you heard right. You know white people think we're the same? We both look black. But only one of us is black."
I See You (English) / Ngiyakubona (Zulu) / Ek Sien Jou (Afrikaans) / Ndiyakubona (Xhosa)
Mongiwekhaya's Royal Court debut play is presented as part of International Playwrights, a Genesis Foundation Project. It was developed during the Royal Court's new writing project in South Africa which began in 2013. The project was supported by the British Council and Connect ZA.
Full listings and biography information below.
The Big Idea:
Mongiwekhaya in conversation
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Friday 4 March, Post-show
Playwright Mongiwekhaya will be in conversation with Royal Court International Director, Elyse Dodgson.
Documentary film: Noma (Forgiving Apartheid)
Directed by Sarah Townsend
The Wilson Studio, Royal Court Theatre
Saturday 19 March 2015, 12 noon
Noma Dumezweni, once a childhood apartheid refugee from South Africa, is now a critically acclaimed stage actress in London. In this documentary she revisits her past for the first time, as she takes on a new role that will bring her back to her birthplace and face to face with a father she hasn't seen in over 30 years.
During the 1970's, the apartheid regime in South Africa was at its height. Seven-year-old Noma Dumezweni only knew a life on the run from the police until one day, her mother chose to leave Noma's father and his life of activism for refuge in the UK. Fast-forward to 2014 and Noma, now an award winning stage actress in London has been offered the role of a lifetime portraying a legendary South African psychologist famous for her interviews with convicted apartheid-fuelled mass murderer Eugene De Kock. Noma gladly accepts the role but in doing so, plunges herself into a journey of self-discovery as the play moves to South Africa and forces her to reconnect with her childhood past and a father she has not seen in over 30 years.
Running time 40 minutes.
£5 or free with a ticket to a performance of I See You that day.
The Big Idea is a strand of work launched during Open Court, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion inspired by the work on stage. The Big Idea seeks to foster debate and collaboration, bringing together leading thinkers and artists from all walks of life to engage with the big ideas of our times, through a series of debates and events.
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