Plays

I wrote a ten-minute play as part of a project with the University of Iowa in 2015. When the Fugard Theatre commissioned a new play, this was the opportunity to extend this play and interrogate its theme of the sanctity of life versus the quality of life. Written in 2019, the play is scheduled for production in 2020.

Land Acts

The final revue of three collaborations with Daniel Richards and Rob van Vuuren, this one-hander deals with the contentious theme of land in South Africa. It premiered at the Kalk Bay Theatre in June 2018.

Another One’s Bread

Commissioned by the Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape, this all women four-hander dark comedy explores the themes of hunger and food security and their intersection with class, race, gender and apartheid’s spatial legacies. Written during a writer’s residency at the Robert Rauschenberg estate in Florida in August 2017, the play had its first run at the AFDA Theatre in Observatory, Cape Town in December 2017.

Helen of Troyeville

A poetic reflection on privilege and complexity in contemporary South Africa, from the perspective of a 70-something former Black Sash member who is held up in her home. First performed at the National Arts Festival in July 2017.

State Fracture

The sequel to Pay Back the Curry, this multi-sketch satirical revue featuring the same creative team premiered in July 2017 at the National Arts Festival where it won Daniel Mpilo Richards the Standard Bank Ovation Award for Outstanding Performance and earned a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award.

When Swallows Cry

Ibsen International commissioned 8 playwrights from around the world to write new plays on the theme of migration and refugees. My three-hander trilogy on the theme was written in 2016 and premiered at the Market Theatre in January 2017. It was produced at the Baxter Theatre as an independent production a year later with a different cast, and subsequently toured a number of countries (Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Ethiopia, Uganda and China). The play has now been translated into Greek and will be staged at a festival in Athens in March 2019.

Pay Back the Curry

A multi-sketch satirical one-hander in the tradition of Bafana Republic, that premiered in 2016 at the National Arts Festival and won its performer, Daniel Mpilo Richards, the Naledi Theatre Award for Best Newcomer and a nomination in the Best New Script category.

Born Free

Originally written for Siv Ngesi, this stand-up piece reflecting on twenty years of democracy was performed by Daniel Richards, our first collaboration. It premiered at the Kalfiefees in Hermanus in 2014.

Return of the Ancestors

In the twentieth year of South Africa’s democracy, the Council of Ancestors send a delegation of two – Steve Biko and Neil Aggett – back to South Africa to determine whether the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the struggle against apartheid, was worth it. This satirical two-hander premiered on the Fringe at the National Arts Festival in 2014.

Rainbow Scars

Written after the Marikana massacre, and using the extended family as a metaphor, this 3-person play explores the so-called “rainbow nation” and whom it works for. Winner of a Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival 2013 and nominated in six Naledi Theatre Award categories, including Best New Script.

A one-person show about an academic who leaves South Africa to avoid having to face her partner’s killers at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; she is later forced to return and face her demons. It premiered on the Main Programme of the National Arts Festival in 2013, when I was featured as the inaugural “Festival Artist”.

Originally written in English “Fallen Angel”, this work was commissioned by the Aardklop Arts Festival, and it premiered there in October 2013.

Panic

A one-person, poetic meditation on climate change commissioned by Siv Ngesi, premiered at the National Arts Festival in July 2013.

Written in 2012, this political thriller dealing with the struggle for democracy in Africa through the experience of an independent journalist, requires eight actors. Perhaps that is why it has never been fully produced, although it has had staged readings in Cape Town and England as part of its development.

This dark comedy about life and death set in the context of four young men grappling with their mortality, was commissioned by the Aardklop Arts Festival where it premiered in 2011.

Iago’s Last Dance

I registered to do an MA Degree at UCT’s Drama Department and explored why it was that – given our history of anti-apartheid theatre – so few plays about HIV/AIDS had been done in mainstream theatre when it presented the biggest health threat in the country. As part of the (uncompleted) degree, I wrote this trilogy of playlets, each referencing a classical theatre piece, on the theme of HIV/AIDS. It premiered on the Main Programme of the National Arts Festival in 2009 and was nominated in the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards’ Best New Script category.

Bafana Republic 3: Penalty Shootout

The Bafana Republic franchise is essentially a satire about aspects of contemporary South Africa and it is inspired by the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is not about sport as such, but it uses soccer and sport generally as entry points for social commentary so that the title is a play on, and a reference to both the derogatory notion of a “banana republic” and “Bafana Bafana”, the endearing name given to the South African national football team.

With a different script, a different actor and a different director, this sequel to the popular Bafana Republic premiered in 2008. It also won the Best Comedy category at the SA Comedy Awards that year.

Bafana Republic 1

With the awarding of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup to South Africa, I started this annual one-person, multi-sketch franchise in 2007, using sport as an entry point for social commentary. It premiered in 2007 and won the Best Comedy award at the SA Comedy Awards.

Die Generaal/The General

As part of its tenth anniversary in 2007, the Aardklop Arts Festival commissioned this work which I wrote in English, and the director (Jaco Bouwer) and cast translated it into Afrikaans during rehearsals. It won the Anglogold Ashanti Award for Best New Afrikaans Script at the Festival.

Mirror, Mirror

As part of my writer-in-residence programme at UCT’s Drama Department in 2006, I was commissioned to write this satire as a project for their final year students.

Brothers in Blood

Commissioned by the Market Theatre and the Charles Diamond Foundation, this five-person play exploring prejudice against the backdrop of the three major Abrahamic religions, premiered at the Market Theatre in 1998. It won the Naledi Theatre Award for Best New Script in 1999.

Some Mothers’ Sons

Selected as a finalist in the 2005 NLDTF/PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing for Drama, this two-hander premiered at the ABSA KKNK in April 2006.

Two to Tango

This two-hander was submitted to the 2005 NLDTF/PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing (Comedy) where it was a finalist, and subsequently premiered at the Liberty Theatre on the Square in April 2006

Mixed Metaphors

This two-hander for two young women was entered into the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF)/PANSA Festival of Reading of one- and two-hander plays in 2005, and subsequently premiered at the State Theatre, February 2006

Hostile Takeover/Just Business

This three-hander satire on black economic empowerment, was my first play produced by the Market Theatre and was my first play on the Main Programme of the National Arts Festival where it premiered in 2005. I subsequently reworked the script, and it was staged with its new title, Just Business, at Artscape in 2012.

Green Man Flashing

Having started its life as a radio play – The Reunion – on SAfm in April 1999, I submitted this play as Green Man Flashing (with a five-person cast) for the PANSA/UCT Festival of Reading of New Writing in 2003. It premiered on the National Arts Festival Fringe in July 2004, is now a prescribed text for IEB schools and is probably my most produced play, currently resonating with the #metoo campaign. The script was nominated in the best new script categories for both the Fleur du Cap and Naledi Theatre Awards (2005), and won the South African leg of Proyecto 34’s competition for South African and Argentinian playwrights in 2012.

Using only tables, movement and the bodies of the six actors, I devised this non-verbal piece (with a third of it having been done during my BA Honours year at UCT) that premiered at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival Fringe in 1999.

A stand-up comedy routine, comprising of a series of one-liners commenting in bare-knuckled fashion on the politics of the time. The title was intended to attract an audience on the basis that the piece would cross politically correct boundaries at a time when there was a lot of self-censorship among artists.

In response to the oft-asked question at the time, I wrote this trilogy for four actors to show that we had many themes to explore in post-apartheid South Africa. It premiered at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival Fringe in 1996 and won the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best New Script in 2007.

Wrote, directed and acted in this two-hander satirical piece, reflecting on the days of the cultural boycott and “the cultural desk”. It premiered at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival Fringe in 1992, won the “Hot off the Fringe” award, and also had a few performances at the Market Theatre.

Conceived and directed this 8-person, non-verbal, multi-sketch satirical piece on the expectations of “the New South Africa”, with dogs being the central characters in each sketch. Produced with the Community Arts Project (CAP) Theatre Company for the Standard Bank National Arts Festival Fringe in 1991. It was selected “Hot off the Fringe” and had a short run at the Market Theatre subsequently.