Crepuscule dazzles audiences
The play is believed to be an interpretation of Themba’s real life love affair with a white woman during the 1950s
THE first time I came across the word Crepuscule, was from the song Crepuscule With Nellie by the Thelonious Monk, which was recorded in 1957. At first I thought he made it up until I got an invite from the Playhouse Company about its new stages season, which included Crepuscule, a stage work based on the real-life story of Drum Magazine icon Can Themba.
The play is believed to be an interpretation of Themba’s real life love affair with a white woman during the 1950s, a time when such relations were considered taboo. The play asks a range of pertinent and contemporary socio-political questions. Themba and Hart’s illicit relationship across the apartheid ‘colour bar’ serves as a means to unpack just how much of our identity is formed by our environment and how much is shaped by our choices as individuals.
The Durban season has already sold out three performances.The cast includes Crepuscule stars Nat Ramabulana as Can Themba, with Kate Liquorish as his romantic partner. Lerato Mvelase plays Baby/Kleinboy, Nhlanhla Mahlangu is Stan, Matthew Lotter plays Malcolm, and Thami Ngoma plays Ous Lethabo/Mama Dora/Sis Pretty.
Crepuscule means twilight or dusk, It is that period of not quite dark and not quite light but right after sunset. Crepuscule is a time of partial darkness, just like the current social-political climate in this country. The production is very entertaining, creative, original and thought provoking and leaves us with the universal message that love conquers all.
