Photo Coverage: Lara Foot's TSHEPANG - THE THIRD TESTAMENT at the Edinburgh Assembly Fringe Festival

Writer-director Lara Foot's TSHEPANG: THE THIRD TESTAMENT, a play that rocked South African and shocked the world, forms part of the South African showcase at the 2017 Edinburgh Assembly Fringe Festival in Scotland. The impressive total of six award-winning and cutting-edge productions is presented by the Baxter Theatre Centre in association with Assembly Festival and Riverside Studios. Foot's KAROO MOOSE - NO FATHERS and THE INCONVENIENCE OF WINGS also form part of the programme, along with Sylvaine Strike's TOBACCO, Yael Farber's MIES JULIE and the devised drama, THE FALL.

TSHEPANG: THE THIRD TESTAMENT is based on the true story of six men who were accused of raping and sodomising a nine-month-old baby girl. The newspapers in South Africa and all around the world ran the story as headline news. Later, it was discovered that, in fact, one man had raped the baby and by some miracle, she had survived. The nurses at the hospital who had attended to her named the baby, Tshepang, which means the saviour or hope.

Although the media were no longer as obsessed with the story because the infant had not been gang raped, Foot went on a journey to discover how such the terrible and atrocious act of such a rape by even one adult could happen. Her research uncovered that there were twenty thousand reported child rapes in South Africa a year and that infant rape was a common occurrence.

TSHEPANG: THE THIRD TESTAMENT looks at history, the rape of the land and the violation of its people. It delves into the psychology of an infant rapist and finally looks at hope and love and culpability. Ultimately, it is a searing tribute to humanity told through the eyes of the charismatic and compassionate Simon (played by Mncedisi Shabangu), who dutifully looks after Tshepang's mother (played by Nonceba Constance Didi) after the night of the incident.

A story beautifully told and exquisitely executed, TSHEPANG: THE THIRD TESTAMENT is ultimately a haunting and uplifting masterpiece of redemption which draws on a South African style of storytelling while combining striking visual imagery with an African sense of magic realism that sensitively layers the story.

Take a look at the production, which runs at Assembly Roxy Central at 11:45 until 27 August from Tuesdays to Sundays, through the lens of photographer, Andrew Brown, below.

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