The Suit
play based om a short story by Can Themba, adapted by Barney Simon and Mothobi Mutloatse, workshopped with the cast of the first production (1994). Story published in The World of Can Themba, E.Patel (ed), Ravan 1986.
The story is set in Sophiatown, just west of Johannesburg. A doting, newly-married husband returns unexpectedly one morning to find another man in bed with his wife. The man leaps out of a window, but he leaves his suit behind. The husband punishes his wife by making her treat the suit as an honoured guest in their home and in public.
Contents
Performance history in South Africa
Adapted for the stage by Mothobi Mutloatse and dramatized and directed by Barney Simon. First performed at the Market Theatre and Grahamstown Festival in 1994 with Sello Maake ka Ncube, Stella Khumalo, Job Kubatsi and Alistair Dube. Stage manager Adam Steyn, set designer Sarah Roberts, lighting by Richard Barnes and sound by Dean Pitman.
In 2002 a dance version of the play was developed and performed at the Baxter Theatre by ** as part of the *** Dance Indaba.
Performance history abroad
1999: Performed in French, under the title Le Costume, based on Barney Simon's Market Theatre production and directed by Peter Brook for the Thêátre des Bouffes du Nord.
2011: Le Costume repeated in 2011, and then redone in English in London as The Suit, directed by Peter Brook for the Thêátre des Bouffes du Nord.
2013: Revived once more by the Thêátre des Bouffes du Nord, co-directed by Peter Brook, Marie-Helene Estienne and Frank Krawczyk, with William Nadylam and Nonhlahla Keshwa and a chorus of four actors and a jazz trio. Its first performance in the USA was in the Harvey Theatre, at the BAM Centre, Brooklyn, New York on 17 January 2013.
Translations and adaptations
Sources
Review: The New Yorker February 4 2013 p9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brook
Tucker, 1997.
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