Nothing But The Truth: Back on the square by popular demand!
Delight in this timeless production set against the backdrop of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa.
Theatre-on-the-Square has revisited the hyper-real theatre production, Nothing But The Truth, a play by the ageless John Kani which opened in Sandton for a second run this year on October 4.
Nothing But The Truth is back by popular demand since having had a sold-out season this year in April.
The timeless production – directed by the acclaimed Charmaine Weir-Smith – stars a strong cast characterised by the convincing Mbali Nhlapo (who portrays Sipho’s daughter, Thando Makhaya, a TRC stenographer) and the resounding Ziaphora Dakile (who portrays Sipho’s niece from England, Mandisa Makhaya, a fashion designer), led by the iconic Sello Maake KaNcube – who portrays Sipho Makhaya.
Maake KaNcube’s character Sipho is a grieving brother in post-apartheid Eastern Cape whose sibling never came home at the end of the struggle, opting to remain in exile beyond South Africa’s successful revolution in the early 90s.
In the play, Maake KaNcube laments to his daughter, Thando (Nhlapo), about his brother, Themba – who became an apartheid exile who fled to Europe to escape an untimely death at the hands of that era’s brutal police force.
In Nothing But The Truth, Themba has died – and his daughter, Mandisa, returning her father’s body, is anticipated to arrive by Sipho and Thando.
Mandisa arrives with her father’s remains in an urn, shocking her family to no end. From start to finish, the play takes audiences on a comprehensive journey to gaining a deeper understanding of the native South African’s capacity to forgive the past and trudge along forward. The most resonant in this production is the notion of embracing the blank canvass that is the future.
According to the director, Charmaine Weir-Smith, Nothing But The Truth will always have an audience to receive it in South Africa as a bridge between history books and the South African collective memory.
“Don’t forget, this is a story about relationships – but it’s also against the backdrop of the amnesty hearings, and the TRC in 2000,” said Weir-Smith. “It’s wonderful that a fresh, new audience can get to see it but, most importantly, a young audience. I think it’s easy to read something in a history book but when you see a live performance it brings it home more strongly.”
Nothing But The Truth will be running at Theatre-on-the-Square until October 21.
Related article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/333743/roy-horovitzs-touching-monodrama-at-theatre-on-the-square/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/327696/a-must-watch-at-the-theatre-on-the-square/
