And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses

And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses is a play by Zakes Mda (1948-)

The original text

A play about two very different women - "The Woman" and "The Lady" - who meet during a long wait to buy subsidized rice and discover they have more in common than their poverty. The author uses this situation to deal with corruption and bureaucracy in Lesotho and Southern Africa, as viewed through the eyes of the two women.

First performed during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on 14 August 1988 by Meso Theatre Group, directed by Teresa Devant with Tokoloho Khutsoane and Gertrude Mothibe It then played at the West Indian Centre, Leeds with the same cast.

The text was first published in And The Girls in Their Sunday Dresses: Four Works, Wits University Press, 1993 and in Drama for a New South Africa (David Graver Ed.) by Indiana University Press in 1999.

Translations and adaptations

The original text was adapted and updated for production in 2010 by Princess Mhlongo.

Performances

1988: First performed by the Meso Theatre Group of Lesotho in 1988, and taken to the Edinburgh Festival. Also performed at the West Indian Centre, Leeds in the UK.

1989: Performed at the Market Theatre.

2008: Revived and updated version performed at the State Theatre, directed by Princess Mhlongo, starring Lesego Motsepe as "The Woman" and Hlengiwe Lushaba as "The Lady".

2010: Performed at the Market Theatre, directed by Princess Mhlongo with Lesego Motsepe (the woman), Hlengiwe Lushaba (the lady)

2012: Performed at the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Princess Mhlongo, starring Lesego Motsepe as "The Woman" and Hlengiwe Lushaba as "The Lady".

2014: Presented by Soweto Theatre and Tick Tock Productions, directed by Princess Zinzi Mhlongo with Lesego Motsepe (the woman), Hlengiwe Lushaba (the lady).

2016: Performed at athe POPArt Theatre, Johannesburg, from 21 to 24 April, directed by Salome Sebola, choreographed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu (Vuyani Dance Theatre) and Performed by Vuyo Madyibi and Khanyisile Ngwabe. The production is a collaboration between the Market Theatre Lab and POPArt Theatre.

2017: Performed on 14 and 15 July at the National Theatre of Namibia, 12 John Meinert Street, Windhoek. Directed by Vickson Hangula with Sepiso Mwange and Odile Gertze.

2021: The play was performed in London by Utopia Theatre, directed by Mojisola Elufowoju, as part of at Arcola Theatre's Today I'm Wiser Festival[1].

Sources

https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/and-the-girls-in-their-sunday-dresses/

https://www.arcolatheatre.com/today-im-wiser/

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/aug/22/girls-sunday-dresses-edinburgh-review

Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)

https://nyupress.org/9781868142224/and-the-girls-in-their-sunday-dresses/

https://creativefeel.co.za/2016/04/and-the-girls-in-their-sunday-dresses/

The Citizen, 11 November 2008 (State Theatre production).

Malan, Wilson and Fick. 2013. Now I Am Alone 1: pp.42-45.

Malan, Wilson and Fick. 2013. Now I Am Alone 1: pp.26-29

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