Play explores issues of gender based violence

THE Same Pain is a one-woman play directed by Carla Fonseca.

Fonseca said it aims to raise awareness about deep-rooted societal traumas and systematic oppression.

Yesterday was the opening night of the show at the Soweto Theatre.

“It is a story of a couple of characters and it traces their journey of survival in a society filled with gender-based violence and horrific rape statistics, so we are focusing on the issues and the different people that they effect.”

Lead actress Asia McDonald was an easy fit for Fonseca.

“She is portraying a number of characters (more than 10) and their individual stories in the state of emergency we are in as women. I have worked with a number of actresses before but she definitely is one of the most incredible and skilled actresses, and that’s why I chose to work with her. She can just switch between different characters, and we worked long and hard on developing this production and each individual character,” said Fonseca.

The planning for the play began in October.

“As Africans we need more content to put in our archives. From October to December we were devising and writing, and I also collaborated with Phumlani Pikoli, an author and journalist. We only started rehearsing on the floor in January.”

Fonseca said she wanted people to start having more conversations around the topics explored in the play.

The Same Pain runs until Sunday at the Soweto Theatre.