The good white

The good white

Opening of "The good White" at the Market Theatre. I love the Market Theatre, the place was vibrant and buzzing. Even posed for a couple of pictures - press time. 

A different perspective to the #feesmustfall and #rhodesmustfall movements. The story follows Professor Simon Whitehead, a senior ranking official of the University, his Zimbabwean colleague who plans to launch his book on Decolonization and his colored wife who also holds a high position at the University. It is set in a world of unrest and desolation, a world where the youth feel betrayed by the current system and the leaders that preceded it. Nelson Mandela preached "rainbownism", he didn't change anything, the systems of apartheid are still in place. Apartheid still roams but in a different form, with new and fancy terminologies. While real people still suffer, inequality rife and students can't afford schooling. Everything is blamed on the white man; the patriarchy, apartheid, inequality, racism, no access to education - all him! It is a world that unsympathetic to the white man, it is even played for comic relief and features as a running gag, you'll hear Simon saying "the white man has no feelings, everything is his fault" as a way to defuse the tension. It is a world that keeps kicking Professor Simon Whitehead in the head. He is in a cold, loveless and detached relationship with a woman who cheats on him with his Zimbabwean colleague. For the woman, the relationship is purely transactional, white man married to a colored woman, diversity, it's good for PR. She won't even say "I love you", instead she says "do you need me to love you"? Eventually, they separate.

This is a brilliant play, the writing by Mike van Graan is the hero and the acting just world-class. The show has a lot, the characters have personality and the script wit. Shonisani Masutha is powerful, I loved her poetry and the emotion in her words. She plays a character from the township whose parents are deseased. She is angry and in protest - she demands change! Renate Stuurman plays the wife, she is harsh and insensitive at times, very antagonistic, could be because of her past, apartheid, her family was moved from Wynberg to the Cape Flats. Vusi Kunene plays the Zimbabwean colleague, his book launch is hilarious, it was chaos, there was protesting and the township girl undressed in front of everyone. Russel Savadier is Professor Simon Whitehead - I just felt sorry for the white man. 

The scenes and the lighting are seamless and just flow. Totally loved the set, it is subtle, minimalistic and compact with three stages all in all, one to the left, one to the right and one in the middle that has retractable seats that can be pushed back inside. Hovering above the middle stage are signs that demand:

Decolonize education

Free quality education

#feesmustfall

Education is not a privilege

Senzeni Na

Fees with what money

Asinamali

Free education is possible

Congratulations Greg Homann and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

https://youtu.be/L-pOiPKviIg?si=1CNDBLNlXXJqWPHR