Tshepang: universal effect and resonance.

Newton, Lara Foot. 2005. Tshepang: the third testament. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 45 p. Price: R80,00. ISBN: 1-86814-415-1.

Lara Newton is an established and well-known theatre director who has directed more than 30 productions, won the prestigious international Rolex director's award and is now the Resident Director and playwright for the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town. She is also a playwright of note and received in 1996 the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama.

Tshepang, which premiered in 2003 in Amsterdam, has toured internationally and in South Africa to critical acclaim. The play is based on the well-publicised rape of baby Tshepang in 2001 in the small town of Louisvaleweg. Tshepang, who was nine months at that time was first presumed to have been gang-raped by six men, but it was later discovered that the mother's boyfriend was the perpetrator of this brutal deed. The play itself is a fictional account of this incident and also, according to Newton, inspired by "thousands like her" (p. vii).

While the rape incident is the main dramatic focus of the play, this incident is expressly placed within a bigger context: the socioeconomic circumstances of a particular (South African) society, where poverty, alcoholism and a general disillusionment with life prevail. The rapist himself was a victim of vicious childhood assaults.

The text is preceded by a "Designer's note" by Gerhard Marx, a "Foreword" by Adrienne Sichel and an "Introduction" by Tony Hamburger, titled: "Tshepang--a morality play?" All three discussions make various insightful comments about the play (especially Hamburger's Introduction of 17 pages). All the main issues addressed by the play is discussed in these pieces (reg. the legacy of apartheid regarding poverty-stricken communities in the platteland; post-apartheid South Africa and the AIDS epidemic; the religious imagery found in the text, e.g. the title; as well as the surprising positive and hopeful ending of the play). One can also concur with the commentators' remark that this play is part of the tradition started by Athol Fugard and others, of the so-called "protest theatre" or "political theatre" in this country. Newton's intention is clearly to raise our consciousness level regarding the above issues and to address the inhumane living conditions of the poor in the new South Africa.

The play itself is short (26 pages) with no divisions into scenes or acts and consists of only three characters, namely Simon (the narrator), Ruth (mother of Tshepang, silent throughout the play until the end) and Alfred (boyfriend of Ruth and rapist of baby Tshepang). The use of a narrator, who tells and shows (e.g. by using visual props or reenacting certain incidents) links this play to the African oral tradition (also pointed out by Hamburger). By making use of this technique, a certain aesthetic distance is introduced into the play so that the simulated rape scene (a broomstick stuck into a loaf of bread) is more than dramatically effective to conjure up the full horror of this deed. Although the play deals with a very violent incident which could have become the sole focus of this play, the use of a narrator lessens this danger and brings a perspective to the rape scene which, in fact, succeeds in conveying the full complexity of the issues surrounding this deed.

Although life in this community is dangerous and cruel, it is not completely bleak. A note of hope is introduced in the play: Tshepang (meaning: hope) is seen as a saviour of this community (also indicated by the subtitle of the play: "The Third Testament"), while the theme of love--perhaps unconventionally--also constantly surfaces in the characters' dialogue (Simon's declaration of love for Ruth) and actions (Ruth's desperate carrying of her baby's bed on her back through-out the play).

Tshepang, is a play rich with meanings and subtexts, and 'although an infamous incident in South African society is highlighted in this play, it is done in such a manner that it does have universal effect and resonance. This play should be seen and read by everyone interested in drama and theatre.

M. Keuris Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature, Unisa