Junkets Publisher Launches Publication of Duncan Buwalda's HINTERLAND

Junkets Publisher is pleased to announce the publication of the twenty-eighth title in their Playscript Series, Duncan Buwalda's HINTERLAND.

HINTERLAND is a subtle and sometimes surprising imagining by the author of something that never happened: an interaction between two very different giants of South African history: Sol Plaatje and Cecil John Rhodes. While serious issues are dealt with concerning white British imperialism and black South African nationalism, the heart of the play is 'playful' in that the interactions depicted never happened. Rhodes and Plaatje never met - but how interesting if might have been if they had.

Playwright Buwalda was intrigued that, while Rhodes was holed up in Kimberley during the Siege of Kimberley, Plaatje was holed up in Mafeking during the siege of that town during the South African War. What if, he wondered, they had both been in the same place at the same time? And, especially, what if Rhodes had behaved indiscreetly?

Buwalda was born and went to school in Johannesburg and received his Honours degree in Drama from Rhodes University in 2003. His first play DREAM, BROTHER was produced at the Intimate Theatre, Cape Town, in 2011 and won the Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award for Drama at that year's National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Hinterland won three awards at the PANSA/NLDTF Festival of New Writing in 2012, and was produced as part of the National Arts Festival Arena Programme in 2013. Buwalda currently lives in Cape Town.

HINTERLAND has had several successful seasons, two of them at the National Arts Festival, and continues to attract the interest of theatre managements and the public. The play offers university students and school students a fascinating account of one of the big "What Ifs" of South African history. The retail price of HINTERLAND is R80, with a 10% discount to schools and libraries, and orders can be placed by contacting Junkets Publishers by email.