At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories

At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories is a book of short stories by Ronnie Govender (1935-2021)

This can also refer to a stage adaptation of Govender's stories, originally titled simply At the Edge and later sometimes billed as At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories]] theatre programme, 1991.

National Arts Festival Programme, 1991, 36-37. .

The original stories

A collection of Govender's writings, stories that offers a series of narratives of life in Cato Manor from the 1940s until its destruction in 1958/9, giving a glimpse of everyday life in Indian/Zulu/colonial Natal and in the process raises larger questions about South African Indian identities—questions of alienation, exclusion, exoticism, and belonging. First published by Marx Publishers in 1996.

Published by Marx Publishers in the collection At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories in 1996.

The stage version

The oringal stories were adapted as a one-person stage piece entitled At the Edge by Govender and first performed 1993. The text was later also performed by and by actress Jailoshini Naidoo (billed as At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories' in 2010).

Performance history in South Africa

1990: First performed by Charles Pillai at the Asoka Theatre, University of Durban-Westville

1990: The play was next performed by Pat Pillai, and taken on tour of many small towns and various venues in Natal and elsewhere, including the Cane Grower's Hall in March and the Baxter Studio, Cape Town, on 25 June

1991: Pat Pillai now went on a national tour, playing at the Little Theatre, Cape Town 15 April and the Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown in July.

1991: Performed at the Edinburgh Festival, again featuring Pat Pillai.

1997: Performed at the Natal Playhouse, with music composed by Siva Devar.

2010: At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories was performed by Jailoshini Naidoo, as part of the fourth edition of the Shared History - The Indian Experience Festival, presented by Teamwork Productions in association with The High Commission of India. Directed by [[Sharupa Dutta], with music by Siva Devar. It was presented at Playhouse Theatre, Durban from 8 September to 12 September (as part of the Celebrating Durban Festival), at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, as part of the Jo'burg Arts Alive International Festival from 16 to 26 September.

Sources

At the Edge theatre programme, 1991.

National Arts Festival Programme, 1991, 36-37.

https://www.amazon.com/Edge-Other-Cato-Manor-Stories/dp/191969014X

https://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=25407

Rajendra Chetty. At the Edge. The Writings of Ronnie Govender New York: Peter Lang[]

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