Market Theatre celebrates a local play

The Royal Court Theatre in London, in collaboration with the Market Theatre in Newtown, are staging I See You.

A collaboration which celebrates 100 years of theatre is seeing a play by local writer Mongiwekhaya making its debut at both the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Royal Court Theatre in London this season.

The play, I See You, opened in London in February to mark the 60th anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre and was staged in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs until 26 March.

It has now made its way home to Johannesburg to form part of the Market Theatre’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

Based on a real encounter, I See You addresses the questions of a new generation of South Africans encountering their country’s traumatised past.

It is set in the post-apartheid years when Ben meets Skinn for a night out, but the party is interrupted by the police.

Ben, a young black 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.

The production is directed by Noma Dumezweni, who is making her directorial debut with this production. Dumezweni recently starred in A Human Being Died That Night, which recently played to a sold-out audience at the Market Theatre.

I See You was developed by Mongiwekhaya 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 and is presented as part of International Playwrights, a Genesis Foundation Project.

I See You is a Royal Court Theatre and the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, production.

The production will settle in at the Market Theatre’s Laager Theatre from 15 April to 1 May.

Details: 011 832 1641 extension 123; 072 367 7867.