Outers

Outers is a play by Barney Simon and Nicky Rebelo. Full-length. Cast: mixed.

Quoted from the programme notes of Outers in 1985: 'In 1981 Nicky Rebelo, then a student at Wits, taperecorded conversations with the down-and-outs of Joubert Park. These were edited, as part of a writing project, into a text which has formed the basis of the Outers project. In February 1985, the cast of Outers began moving into parks, streets and work-places of JOhannesburg, 'in character', hunting for jobs, food, cigarettes, handouts and gaining invaluable empathy for the people the moved among. Also a wealth of new and topical material. Five weeks of processing under the direction of Barney Simon has resulted in a new South African play, Outers. Outers embodies Simon's credo as Artistic Director of the Market Theatre: 'to reflect our lives... to attempt a theatre that is alive to all dramatic possibilities that surround us - not only the obvious news stories, but the faces, the biographies, the vernaculars... that reach even to our doorsteps... to attempt a theatre that entertains and informs'.

The original text
Original script held by NELM: [Collection: SIMON, Barney]: 1995. 11. 5. 7. 1.

Published in Born in the RSA: Four Workshopped Plays by Wits University Press, 1997.

Performance history in South Africa
Performed at the Market Theatre in March 1985. Cast: Nicky Rebelo (Klerks), Marius Weyers (Hennie), Gys de Villiers (Bles), Marié Human (Charmaine), Lida Meiring (Auntie Gwen), Marcel van Heerden (Boytie), James Whyle (Richard). Designed by Anita Berman. Lighting design by Mannie Manim.

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