Artscape to Present BORN AROUND HERE and THE RABBLE Double Bill

Artscape Theatre is set to present the much-anticipated double bill of BORN AROUND HERE and THE RABBLE at the Artscape Arena. The productions form part of this year's Heritage Festival, which is aimed at creating a space of performances that are considerate and sensitive to the diverse nature of South Africa's society.

BORN AROUND HERE, directed by Gao Lemmenyane and Phala Phala, highlights Botswana and Zambia as examples of how Africa contributed to the South African struggle for freedom. It traces the story of Zakes, a South African refugee running away from the brutality of apartheid South African government, arriving and living in Botswana, marrying a Botswana citizen and undertaking underground operations between Gaborone and Lusaka. This story is interrogated through human relations and how ordinary nationals in host countries interacted with South Africans. It further examines human vulnerabilities and fears and exposes the human elements of love, compassion and the African concept of Ubuntu.

THE RABBLE, directed by Iman Isaacs and Richard September, features two vagrants who occupy a piece of repossessed land. The world they live in exists on the fringe of the fast developing urban environment in which they are viewed as the rabble, the hoi polloi, indivisible from the neglected debris that forms their landscape. Depressed and hungry, they are in search of an identity and a means out of their brutal reality of dog attacks, thieves and raiders in uniform. They come across an abandoned baby found in a rubbish dump. The baby brings them good fortune and a sense of purpose but comes with sacrifice and responsibility. It is theirs only for as long as they can keep it safe. The play makes use of physical language, masks, imagery and sound design to tell the story.

Mandla Mbothwe, the creative manager of Artscape Theatre, comments:

Heritage month is the time of remembering our fragmented memory and a time for a national introspection with a purpose of becoming a better national for all. This conscious inclusive approach in our creative program is our attempt as an institution to 'Excavate - Restore - Celebrate' as this year's festival theme suggests and it is time for sharing our experiences, our spirits and a time of resuscitating our purpose as Africans.

Following a preview on 16 September, the double bill of BORN AROUND HERE and THE RABBLE opens on 17 September and runs until 23 September at 19:30 nightly, excepting Sundays, on which there will be a 15:00 matinee. Tickets, ranging in price from R40 - R80, are available at the box office, through Artscape Dial-a-Seat and at Computicket outlets.