Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country is a 2003 play by Roy Sargeant, adapted from the novel of the same name by Alan Paton. The playscript, together with notes and activities for school use, was published in 2006 by Oxford University Press Southern Africa.

The original text

Cry, the Beloved Country, a 1948 novel by South African author Alan Paton.

The main theme of the novel, set in 1946, is summarised in Wikipedia: ... a social protest against the structures of the society that would later give rise to apartheid. Paton attempts to create an unbiased and objective view of the dichotomies this entails: he depicts the Whites as affected by 'native crime', while the Blacks suffer from social instability and moral issues due to the breakdown of the tribal system. It shows many of the problems with South Africa such as the degrading of the land reserved for the natives, which is sometimes considered to be the main theme, the disintegration of the tribal community, native crime, and the flight to the urban areas. [1]

Performance history in South Africa

First staged at the Grahamstown Festival in 2003 and then in the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town and at Macufe 2003, directed by Heinrich Reisenhofer, with Joko Scott, David Muller, Matthew Wild, Morena Medi, Wiseman Sithole, Chris Gxalaba, Adrienne Pearce, Leon Liebenberg, Johann Vermaak, Nhlanhla Mavundla, Roger Dwyer and others. In October 2003 the same production was staged in the Playhouse Theatre in Durban and in April 2004 at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn.

Sources

Wikipedia [2]

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page