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Rehane Abrahams (19**-)

Actress, playwright, theatre-maker, director and Fitzmaurice Voicework teacher, and a co-founder of [[The Mothertongue Project]]. Since 2026 also cited as Dr Rehane Abrahams.

== Biography ==

Born in Cape Town, the daughter of the cookery writer and chef [[Cass Abrahams]]. She matriculated at [[Livingstone High School]] and took a Performer's Diploma in Speech and Drama at the [[University of Cape Town]]. From 1993 to 1998 she lived in San Francisco, working with companies including the [[San Francisco Shakespeare Festival]] and [[Thrillpeddlers]]. From about 2003 to 2014 she was based in Indonesia, where she studied classical Javanese dance at the [[Indonesian Art Institute in Surakarta]], co-founded [[Teater Gelombang Badan]] ([[Body Wave Theatre]]) in Java, and in 2009 founded theatre [[fireFLY]] in Ubud, Bali. She also studied [[Butoh]] with [[Min Tanaka]] in Japan and [[Kathak]] in India. She returned to Cape Town in 2014. In 2026 the [[University of Cape Town]] conferred a PhD on her, completed in the [[Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies]] under [[Jay Pather|Jayendran Pather]] and [[Kelly Gillespie]], for the research-performance thesis ''Eco-erotic Decolonisation and Khoisan Revivalism: A Research-Performance Study of the Inseparable Sensate Exchange between Land and Body as a Register for Re-indigenisation'', which works through the [[Khoisan]] water-snake figure [[Die Waterslang]]. In the same year she joined the [[Blue Humanities Chair]] at the [[University of the Western Cape]] as a research associate.

== Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance ==

Her early stage work, largely in [[Cape Town]] and [[Johannesburg]] and mostly undated, included Lady Macbeth in ''[[Macbeth]]'' and Abigail Williams in ''[[The Crucible]]'', at the [[Arena Theatre]] and [[Little Theatre]] respectively, Pearly Heavens in ''[[Dankie Auntie]]'' by [[Zakes Mda]], Topsy in ''[[Wild South]]'' at the [[Nico Malan Theatre]], and her own pieces ''[[Adam's Apple]]'', ''[[Venus Goes Vulgar]]'', ''[[Wider Than This]]'' and ''[[Fresh Wounds]]'' (the last staged in London).

In 2000 she played Juliet at [[Maynardville]], opposite [[Denver Vraagom]] as Romeo, in [[Clare Stopford]]'s localised production of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''; twenty-four years later she returned to the same stage as Mercutio and Lady Montague in [[Geoff Hyland]]'s 2024 production. Also in 2000 she appeared in [[Magnet Theatre]]'s ''[[Voices Made Night]]'', [[Mark Fleishman]]'s stage adaptation of short stories by Mia Couto, with [[Gosekwang Poonyane]], [[Mandla Mbothwe]] and [[Jane Rademeyer]].

She met [[Sara Matchett]] in Mumbai in 1999 and the two founded [[The Mothertongue Project]], a women's arts collective, in 2000. The production that gave rise to the collective was ''[[What the Water Gave Me]]'' (2000, [[Nico Arena]]), her own text, which traces her paternal line; it was published in ''[[New South African Plays]]'', edited by [[Charles J. Fourie]] (London: Aurora Metro, 2006). Their second major collaboration, ''[[Womb of Fire]]'', follows her maternal line. Written by Abrahams and directed by Matchett, it premiered at the [[National Arts Festival]] in 2017 and played the [[Woordfees|Toyota US Woordfees]] on 6 and 8 March 2018 at Cloetesville High School, with Abrahams performing alongside [[Lukhanyiso Skosana]] (vocals) and design by [[Craig Leo]]. It went on to the [[Baxter Theatre]]'s Golden Arrow Studio in 2018, and abroad to Afrovibes in the Netherlands and the International Theatre Festival of Kerala in India in the same year. [[Jason Jacobs]]'s Afrikaans translation, ''[[Brandbaar]]'', was staged at the [[Woordfees|Toyota US Woordfees]] from 11 to 15 March 2020 in the [[Adam Small Laboratorium]], again directed by Matchett and performed by Abrahams and Skosana.

Other stage work includes ''[[Die dans van die watermeid]]'' by [[Amee Lekas]], a [[NATi]]/[[Baxter Theatre|Baxter]] production directed by [[Jason Jacobs]], seen at the [[Woordfees|Toyota US Woordfees]] from 2 to 5 March 2018 with [[Nicole Holm]], [[Celeste Matthews-Wannenbürgh]], [[Elton Landrew]], [[Ephraim Gordon]] and [[Gretchen Ramsden]]; and a reading of ''[[Dryfhout]]'' by [[Nell van der Merwe]], with [[André Roothman]], at [[Teksmark]] 2023.

For her doctoral research she made three site-specific research-creation performance events* in and around Cape Town, staged at [[Spier]] estate outside Stellenbosch, the [[Slave Lodge]] in Cape Town, and the Amazon development at the Liesbeeck River confluence.

On screen she made her television debut in the [[SABC]] educational series ''[[Die Allemans]]'' (1991) as Dalene, and has appeared as Zelda in ''[[Hotnotsgode]]'' (1998), in the German-produced feature ''[[An Act of Sabotage]]'', as the title character in ''[[Raya]]'' (2001), in the e.tv sitcoms ''[[Big Okes]]'' and ''[[SOS]]'', in ''[[An American Girl: Lea to the Rescue]]'' (2016), ''[[Buitenkant]]'', the series ''[[Arendsvlei]]'' (2018) and ''[[Bhai's Café]]'' (2019), directed by [[Maynard Kraak]].

== Awards, etc. ==

[[Rosalie van der Gucht]] Prize for most promising student*.

[[FNB Vita Awards|FNB Vita Award]] for Best Actress, 2001*, for ''[[Voices Made Night]]''.

Stone Award for Best Actress for ''[[Raya]]''*.

Three [[Woordtrofee]]s at the [[Woordfees|Toyota US Woordfees]], 2018, for ''[[Womb of Fire]]'': best play (Abrahams), best actor (Abrahams) and best director ([[Sara Matchett]]).

[[Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards]], 2019: Best Performance in a Revue, Cabaret or One-Person Show, for ''[[Womb of Fire]]''.

[[Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards]], 2025: Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Play, as Mercutio and Lady Montague in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''.

== Sources ==

''Toyota US Woordfees'' 2018 programme (Toneel): pp. 134, 155.

''Toyota US Woordfees'' 2020 programme: pp. 114-115, 187.

''Shakespeare's R&J'' theatre programme, [[The Fugard Theatre]], c. 2011*. https://www.thefugard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/r-and-j-programme.pdf

"Voices Made Night", [[Magnet Theatre]]. http://magnettheatre.co.za/productions/voices-made-night/

Fourie, Charles J. (ed.). 2006. ''New South African Plays''. London: Aurora Metro.

Abrahams, Rehane. 2026. ''Eco-erotic Decolonisation and Khoisan Revivalism: A Research-Performance Study of the Inseparable Sensate Exchange between Land and Body as a Register for Re-indigenisation''. PhD thesis, [[University of Cape Town]], Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43308

'Rehane Abrahams reimagines decolonisation through performance', ''UCT News'', 2 April 2026.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehane_Abrahams

Go to [[South African Theatre/Bibliography]]

== Return to ==

Return to [[ESAT Personalities A|A]] in Theatre, Film, Media and Performance Personalities

Return to [[South African Theatre Personalities]]

Return to [[The ESAT Entries]]

Return to [[Main Page]]

Rehane Abrahams - Revision history

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