Shades of Brown

Shades of Brown is a South African play by Michael Picardie.

The original text

Written as a play for two male actors, it is set in the 1970's, in what is referred to as "the Western Coloured Township".

The text was first performed in 1979 as Shades of Brown, and published under that name in Stephen Gray (ed.) Market Plays (Johannesburg: Ad. Donker Ad Donker. pp.74-107) in 1986.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Swedish (?) and performed in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Stavanger in the early 1980's.

Adapted as a radio play for BBC Radio 4 with the title Jannie Veldsman And His Struggle With The Boer). Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as "The Monday Play" at 8.00 p.m. on 11 January 1982, in an adaption by the author, directed by Christopher Venning.

Picardie also wrote a film scenario of the text in 2012, simply called Jannie Veldsman. This is as yet unproduced and unpublished.

Performances

1979: First produced in London in 1979 with Antony Sher as "Captain Jaap Van Tonder" and Michael Picardie as "Jannie Veldsman".

1980: First performed in South Africa by/for(?) students in the Asoka Theatre at the University of Durban-Westville. When the Special Branch filmed the cast and the audience, the director stopped the show.

1980: Performed at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, directed by Malcolm Purkey and starring Dale Cutts and Bill Curry.

Between 1980 and 1986 the play was widely performed internationally, and revived again in 2010.