THE SOUTH AFREAKINS Coming to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Written and performed by Robyn Paterson, The South Afreakins is a dark comedic solo show, inspired byPaterson's own parents experience of emigrating from South Africa to New Zealand.

Convincingly performing both roles of Helene and Gordon, Robyn Paterson's play examines the pragmatic decisions behind social and political immigration, intentional displacement and the push and pull challenges of adapting into a new culture. Critically the play, which makes its international debut at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe,unpicks what happens when the head seeks safety and security, the heart, home.

Helene and Gordon are stuck. Stuck in their arm chairs, stuck in the same house and stuck in their rut. As Gordon's work-life comes to an end and the murder of their son four years previously still tainting their everyday lives, Helene is determined to leave everything behind and start again in the quiet sheep filled hills of New Zealand.

Gordon's dream is to stay right where he is - until Helene confirms that their extended holiday to New Zealand is in fact a permanent move to a new home. Feeling progressively more culturally isolated, will the arrival of his best friend Clive make a difference? And does our home really lie in places, or within people?

Award winning writer and performer Robyn Paterson draws on personal experience, inspired by her move with her parents, Gordon and Helene from South Africa to New Zealand at the age of six, and seeing how difficult her parents found it to feel like they fitted into their new home. Of this experience she said "The longer you're away, the more you miss where you're from - it feels like you're losing something special, some part of your personal history. At the same time, there's an idealisation of what 'home' actually means - it's like having a messy relationship with where you're from. It's interesting where people look for home- whether it's in their work, the people they're surrounded by, or actual bricks and mortar. The South Afreakins is not only an examination of myself but also an intimate look at the hidden challenges and experience of uprooting and assimilating."

South African born actress Robyn Paterson has been a professional playwright and actress for over 14 years in theatre, film and television in Australia,New Zealand and London. Her latest credit was playing the lead in the London immersive theatre show, The Generation of Z, and Channel 4's Anzac Girls, which premiered in 2015. She has been writing for theatre since 2010. Her first one-woman show Introducing Anna had a sell-out season at Auckland's Basement Theatre in New Zealand. Her second play, Mooi River, was third place in the New Zealand 'B4 25' Playwriting Competition.. Her other work, including the full length play The World's First Fight, was shortlisted for the New Zealand Playmarket Adam Playwriting Award in 2015 and her most recent play The Radio Interview was shortlisted in the 2015 British Theatre Challenge

The Zone Theatre at Spotlites, (Venue 278) 22-26 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ 04 - 28 Aug | Previews 4-6 Aug Price: (£1) 07-28 Aug £8.00 (Concession) £6.00 2:00-3:00 (60 minutes) Box Office: 0131 240 5047 | Fringe Box Office: 0131 226 0000

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