A love story in black and white

FORBIDDEN LOVE: Leroy Gopal and Kate Liquorish in Crepuscule.

FORBIDDEN LOVE: Leroy Gopal and Kate Liquorish in Crepuscule.

Published Jul 21, 2015

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CREPUSCULE

WRITER: Can Themba

ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY: Khayelihle Dom Gumede

CAST: Leroy Gopal, Kate Liquorish, Lerato Mvelase, Thami Ngoma, Conrad Kemp, Nhlanhla Mahlangu (also musical director and choreographer)

VENUE: The Laager at Joburg’s Market

UNTIL: August 2

RATING: ****

 

It’s overwhelming to watch a new work adapted by a young writer/director in a new venue. It’s been 18 months in the making, the new Laager, and those who knew the old venue will recognise the new, but with huge improvements including better seating.

And introducing Can Themba’s voice as the first one to open this space is a historic gesture. This was a man who used his voice to tell stories of his time, but was also oppressed and suppressed, all of which can be heard and seen in every sound and move he makes.

With Gumede’s adaptation and Gopal’s performance, it is that bravado, the effects of the brutality, the desperation of trying to live an ordinary life in these circumstances and then just losing your heart, or mind, that all come into play and hit hard for those watching.

The harshness of the system as experienced by someone as vulnerable and articulate as Themba encapsulates a time, a paradise that was Sophiatown and a people who viewed the world differently even when on the same side.

Was he struck by the possibility of love across the colour line, making life even a more precarious one as he and his amour tried to defy the wrath of the system as well as those close to them who felt betrayed?

It is this heightened way of living every second of the day as you did what most people would not even have thought about that is captured in the almost frenetic energy of the production with doors swinging open and closed as the participants try to hide their clandestine meetings and lives while trying to nurture a burgeoning love that is forbidden.

The language isn’t always easy as it switches from poetry to slang to a Soph’town Afrikaans that Dan Mattera years back in the early ’90s introduced onto the Market stage.

But the exchanges are intriguing as they run the gamut of two lovers trying to impress one another to people fighting for the soul of one man while his heart is torn into so many pieces. He finds it hard to breathe yet is driven to write.

Capturing the zeitgeist and reflecting on who and what we are now all come into play as the actors work tightly as an ensemble with Gopal and Liquorish taking the lead as they steal glances at a time when it could cost you your life. Mvelase especially as Kleinboy, Kemp in a heart-wrenching speech as the husband scorned, Ngoma’s exquisite voice and Mahlangu’s moves all add to the density and texture which is really what this piece is about.

It’s about a moment in time that captures the heartache and helplessness of a people with power in the hands of a few who disregarded the humanity of their countrymen. It’s about the poetry and the silliness in these times that help people to hold on and to survive.

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