According to 2006 figures, every year in South Africa over 1 000 children are murdered, more than 30 000 assaulted and 20 000 children are raped – 40% of all rape cases. If by reading this opening line you are on the point of flipping to the next article, then this play is something you will find rewarding to see. One can appreciate that faced with these statistics and the brutality of the crime, how do you even begin to make a play about the alleged gang rape by six men of a nine-month old baby in a remote impoverished community?
Theatre-maker Lara Foot Newton’s landmark work Tshepang, found an answer. Firstly she employs refined, ironic humour to sketch a colourful portrait of the community. Then, by turning everyday objects into symbols, investing them with emotional connotations, we experience the horror poetically. The rape itself is enacted using a broomstick and a loaf of white bread.
In a stellar performance Mncedisi Shabangu, reprises his role as narrator and witness. Nonceba Constance Didi plays Ruth, the mother of the baby. She speaks only one word, at the end of the play, yet is riveting throughout with her subtle facial expressions and palpable energy.
This is a beautiful piece of physical theatre about the ugliest circumstances; a moving account of a social scourge, yet it never leaves us feeling defeated. It would be plain silly to be put off going by the subject matter.
