Outers

Outers is a play by Barney Simon and Nicky Rebelo. Full-length. Cast: mixed.

Quoted from the programme notes of Outers in 1985: 'In 1981 Nicky Rebelo, then a student at Wits, taperecorded conversations with the down-and-outs of Joubert Park. These were edited, as part of a writing project, into a text which has formed the basis of the Outers project. In February 1985, the cast of Outers began moving into parks, streets and work-places of JOhannesburg, 'in character', hunting for jobs, food, cigarettes, handouts and gaining invaluable empathy for the people the moved among. Also a wealth of new and topical material. Five weeks of processing under the direction of Barney Simon has resulted in a new South African play, Outers. Outers embodies Simon's credo as Artistic Director of the Market Theatre: 'to reflect our lives... to attempt a theatre that is alive to all dramatic possibilities that surround us - not only the obvious news stories, but the faces, the biographies, the vernaculars... that reach even to our doorsteps... to attempt a theatre that entertains and informs'.