Slavery sensitively unpacked

In What Remains Davids uses the facts of an actual event – an archaeological dig which uncovered burial grounds of 3 000 slaves in Cape Town – to trigger a powerful play.

The use of misty lighting, strong visuals in the form of video and stills and haunting music amplify a ghost story that digs into South Africa’s past in a most poetic way.

The four main characters – an archaeologist, healer, dancer and student – move across time and the physical space of the stage to try to make sense of the unearthed bones in the present.

These characters’ responses to the skeletons with the property developer wanting to make money, another looking for a scientific explanation, others angry and still others wanting the bones to rest in peace.

The cast of Denise Newman, Faniswa Yisa, Shaun Oelf and Buhle Ngaba are each superb in their own ways.

Professional dancer Oelf – he went to school in Knysna – is a joy to watch in movement.

Newman is convincing as the Healer, although she captures an arrogance of wealth and position seen in the chairwoman as well.

Actress and storyteller Ngaba, who studied drama at Rhodes University and later was a member of Ubom!, the city’s drama company, is perfect as the student activist.

Yisa is the archeologist who pragmatically digs out the bones and tries to “read” them with science.

Davids won a Philip Leverhulme Prize for her research on the Prestwich Place ground and also holds a PhD in Drama from the University of Cape Town. This is her homeground and she obviously knows it well.