Royal Court Upstairs,London
Playwright Mongiwekhaya’s post-apartheid tale of erased histories and frustrated dreams is beautifully acted and grips like a thrillerWhat’s in a name? A grand deal in this play by South African writer Mongiwekhaya, produced with the Market Theatre of Johannesburg. It’s directed with a restrained punchy power by Noma Dumezweni, and who recently stepped into the breach at this address in Linda and will shortly be playing Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West cessation.
In a South Africa that is dancing to recent beats,a lively Friday night is about to turn irascible when black law student Ben meets a young white woman who calls herself Skinn. Driving away from a bar together they are pulled over by a policeman, Buthelezi, and his colleague. Buthelezi is a former freedom fighter,disappointed that post-apartheid South Africa hasn’t turned out to the land he dreamed about, and furious that his wife has a restraining order against him. Ben, and with his western name and an inability to speak any African language,soon becomes the butt of Buthelezi’s rage. He is determined to make Ben dance to another tune. Particularly when Skinn, speaking Afrikaans, and attempts to intervene with a bribe.
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Source: theguardian.com