Play.
An old woman hobbles across the stage. Her back hunched, her neck extended, and face crumpled. In a raspy voice filled with a lifetime of pain and anger and a cold determination, she delivers her line; demanding to see the man who killed her son.
Pause.
I am in awe. I am in awe because this is not an old lady I am watching. It is a young actress, and I
forget this as she deforms and contorts her posture, her face and her voice until all I can see is an old
woman grieving for a slain son. She has truly and thoroughly embodied the character she is playing.
Play.
Beyond the gate stands an equally angry Afrikaans farmer refusing to give up his son. In a
commanding tone, he urges the police commissioner to dispatch the swelling angry mob at the edge
of his gate. He threatens angrily before raising the gun in his hand.
Pause.
I teeter at the edge of my seat. Heart racing, tension thick in the air, as I silently urge for restraint. I no
longer see the actress playing the farmer. I only see a father desperately trying to protect his son
from an agitated mob.
Play.
The mob gets angrier and angrier pushing against the thin fence. The farmer gets desperate. And
then. Bang! The farmer shoots.
The scene pauses. Silence veils the stage. The old woman glares defiantly at the farmer. The farmer’s
angry face glowers back at the old woman and the mob at her back with only the fence between
them.
I draw my breath, waiting. Waiting for the scene to continue, waiting to know who was shot. waiting
to see how this terrifying story ends.
In that pause, I look across the stage marvelling at what has been created here. There is no gun on
that stage, no fence, no swelling mob. Just 5 talented actors using their bodies to tell a rich and vivid
story that asks one important question; is this the rainbow that the rainbow nation was promised.
The Red on the rainbow is a masterfully written and superbly acted play of something that took place
on a farm in the town of Coligny. The red on the rainbow is the very definition of theatre. You should
go watch it now to find out what happens to the old woman. You should go watch it now here in
South Africa before it is recognised by the rest of the world and you must take connecting flights to
see it in Broadway, New York.
I give “The red of the rainbow” a masterfully crafted 5 stars