Classic play back on stage
1959 play back at Market
Athol Fugard’s classic play Nongogo returns with a starstudded cast.
The play was first staged in 1959 at the Darragh Hall in Johannesburg. It returns to the Market Theatre. Nongogo features Igazi actress Zikhona Sodlaka, Generations: The Legacy star Vusi Kunene, Bongani Gumede of Isibaya, Peter Mashigo of Ga Re Dumele and Zenzo Ngqobe, who appeared in Imposter.
Directed by the seasoned James Ngcobo, Nongogo is set in a shebeen outside Johannesburg in the 1950s.
Ngcobo explained that he decided to give a new cast a chance to tell the award-winning story. He said each actor has brought a depth of emotions and understanding of their character’s complexity to the process.
“Each of the cast members were chosen for their ability to take ownership of their respective characters,” said Ngcobo. “The play’s broad theme is romance. It’s such a timeless quality, and love is a primary emotion we all share across the differences of social status. It makes for an extremely moving representation of the simplicity of love in a very complex era.”
Nongogo is a tale of displaced township individuals gripped by a futile longing to belong.
In every shebeen you’ll find the broken characters of life, the hopeless and the loveless trying to find solace, said Ngcobo.