DUNCAN Buwalda is a name worth remembering.
Buwalda recently won three awards at the PANSA/NLDTF Festival of Reading of New Writing held at Durban’s Catalina Theatre.
His play, Hinterland, will also be staged at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown next year.
In Hinterland, Buwalda explores his idea of what might have happened if legendary imperialist Cecil John Rhodes and ANC founding father Sol Plaatje had met.
Buwalda says that from the feedback he’s received so far, he’s confident enough to produce this play himself. “I have an arena slot in next year’s National Arts Festival and I’ll take it there,” he said.
Commenting on the challenges that come with writing, Buwalda says that as a writer he’s learned to be self-critical and to show his plays to people he trusts and get their honest opinions.
“This play has been around for four years and has undergone constant revision. It has taken time to mature. This was a challenge for me because I’m rather impatient. The easiest part has been working with my director, Caroline Smart, who has sorted most of the castings and set-sourcing out in Durban while I’ve been in Cape Town.”
Commenting on his choice of subjects he says: “South Africans often choose to bury the past, and with it, major personalities from previous eras in our history. Cecil John Rhodes is one such character: a character full of contradictions, of good and evil. A rich, powerful man who preached Christian values, but practised racism. The epitome of British imperialism but – most historians claim – a closet homosexual.
“Sol Plaatje is widely appreciated today, not only as one of the ANC’s founders, but as an African literary giant. Characters from history like these are compelling. I wanted to see what would happen if they ever met, and that’s what Hinterland is about. Some things which occur between them in the play are not surprising, but others nobody would have expected.”
Respected actor and writer Nicholas Lorentz took time out of his busy schedule to play the role of Rhodes in Buwalda’s Hinterland – which scooped the Jury Runner Up, Audience Winner and Jury Director Awards.
Lorentz – who has featured in a number of theatre, film and TV roles over the years, as well as working behind the camera on a number of projects – said he agreed to appear in Hinterland because it’s a great script and a really good story.
“I wanted to be part of it mainly for that reason. Second, there was a part of me that just wanted to play to an audience again. I also think that PANSA is a very worthwhile organisation and that, as a performer, it is in a way our duty to support the emerging writers and help them to have their work seen. I include myself in this category – I know how hard it is to get my written work read and reviewed and constructively criticised.”
Having appeared in the BBC series Rhodes as Major Drury, Lorentz has a connection with the character of Rhodes. “We were very lucky to have a solid, experienced cast and this ensured that despite minimal rehearsal time we were all right on the night.”
Craig walked away with the top prize at the PANSA/NLDTF Festival of Reading of New Writing 2012 for Your Hand in My Pocket. With his play directed by William le Cordeur, and cast members Ron Barbour, Caitlin Kilburn and Avi Maistry – all from the greater Pietermaritzburg area – Eisenstein’s win was regarded as triumph for KZN.