THE apartheid-steeped theatrical classic Somewhere on the Border, which opened to a full house at the Market Theatre at the weekend, is a poignant reminder of those dark days.
The play was written by Antony Akerman in exile, intercepted in the post and banned as a publication by the apartheid censors because the language was considered "offensive" and the portrayal of the South African armed forces "prejudicial to the safety of the state".
The play is directed by Andre Odendaal. Glen Biderman-Pam plays Dave Levitt, Charles Bouguenon is Kotze, Dylan Horley reprises the role of Doug Campbell, Luan Jacobs is Paul Marais, André Lötter plays Hennie Badenhorst, Kaz McFadden is Trevor Mowbray and Ndino Ndilula plays The Black Actor.
These young actors give life to a story that makes the old South Africa seem foreign yet all too familiar.
Its opening night attracted the doyens of stage and TV, including Robert Whitehead (Barker Haynes) of Isidingo, Fiona Ramsay of Scandal fame, as well as Des and Dawn Lindberg.
Somewhere on the Border is as controversial as it is sentimental, revisiting the dark days when young white boys fresh from matric were conscripted to fight in countries like Angola.
Mainly showing these impressionable young boys as victims rather than willing participants, this is where interpretations might differ, depending on which side of the war one was on.
For example, if these boys were victims, how come their speech in the camps was peppered with abusive, derogatory and racially insensitive language towards the only black guy at the camp, a cleaner? How come they treated him like trash and called him and "his type" "good for nothing" and "untrustworthy native?"
But in the play there is a divide between two Jewish conscripts and the rest - young Afrikaner soldiers. The Jewish soldiers are also treated like trash. Here the production reinforces the stereotype of the time, when Afrikaners were generally regarded as dangerously patriotic, while English speakers were mostly liberal.
Dark days of apartheid
THE apartheid-steeped theatrical classic Somewhere on the Border, which opened to a full house at the Market Theatre at the weekend, is a poignant reminder of those dark days.
The play was written by Antony Akerman in exile, intercepted in the post and banned as a publication by the apartheid censors because the language was considered "offensive" and the portrayal of the South African armed forces "prejudicial to the safety of the state".
The play is directed by Andre Odendaal. Glen Biderman-Pam plays Dave Levitt, Charles Bouguenon is Kotze, Dylan Horley reprises the role of Doug Campbell, Luan Jacobs is Paul Marais, André Lötter plays Hennie Badenhorst, Kaz McFadden is Trevor Mowbray and Ndino Ndilula plays The Black Actor.
These young actors give life to a story that makes the old South Africa seem foreign yet all too familiar.
Its opening night attracted the doyens of stage and TV, including Robert Whitehead (Barker Haynes) of Isidingo, Fiona Ramsay of Scandal fame, as well as Des and Dawn Lindberg.
Somewhere on the Border is as controversial as it is sentimental, revisiting the dark days when young white boys fresh from matric were conscripted to fight in countries like Angola.
Mainly showing these impressionable young boys as victims rather than willing participants, this is where interpretations might differ, depending on which side of the war one was on.
For example, if these boys were victims, how come their speech in the camps was peppered with abusive, derogatory and racially insensitive language towards the only black guy at the camp, a cleaner? How come they treated him like trash and called him and "his type" "good for nothing" and "untrustworthy native?"
But in the play there is a divide between two Jewish conscripts and the rest - young Afrikaner soldiers. The Jewish soldiers are also treated like trash. Here the production reinforces the stereotype of the time, when Afrikaners were generally regarded as dangerously patriotic, while English speakers were mostly liberal.
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