Artscape Theatre will present the double bill of Born Around Here and The Rabble, from Saturday September 17 to Friday September 23.
The productions form part of this year’s Heritage Festival.
Born Around Here, directed by Gao Lemmenyane and Phala Phala, highlights how Botswana and Zambia contributed to the South African struggle for freedom. It traces the story of Zakes who runs away from the brutality of apartheid to Botswana, marrying a Botswana citizen and undertaking underground operations between Gaborone and Lusaka.
The story is about how people in host countries interacted with South Africans. It examines human vulnerabilities and fears and exposes the human elements of love, compassion and the African concept of Ubuntu.
The Rabble, directed by Iman Isaacs and Richard September, features two vagrants who occupy a piece of repossessed land. The world they live in exists on the fringe of the fast developing urban environment in which they are viewed as the rabble indivisible from the neglected debris that forms their landscape. Depressed and hungry, they are in search of an identity and a means out of their brutal reality of dog attacks, thieves and raiders in uniform. They come across an abandoned baby found in a rubbish dump. The baby brings them good fortune and a sense of purpose but comes with sacrifice and responsibility. It is theirs only for as long as they can keep it safe. The play makes use of physical language, masks, imagery and sound design to tell the story.
Tickets cost between R40 and R80. Book at Computicket or Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.