On My Birthday

one-act play by Aubrey Sekhabi (1996).

Subject

A hard-hitting, kitchen-sink realistic drama about domestic violence and specifically wife abuse. The play is set in Soshanguve, a township north of Pretoria. The central characters are Lebo, a nurse and her husband Richard, a part-time insurance salesman and a heavy drinker with low self-esteem.

Performance history in South Africa

Premièred at the Grahamstown Festival in July 1996, produced by the Northwest Arts Council, directed by Aubrey Sekhabi, with Mmabatho Mogomotsi, Meshack Xaba, Makwela Lekalakala, Confomation Ntulwana and Kholofelo Kola, with set design by Roslyn Wood and lighting by Denis Hutchinson. Same production staged in the Laager at the Market Theatre in August 1996. In 2002, when Sekhabi was appointed Artistic Director and Deputy CEO of the State Theatre he made some adjustments to the script and staged a new production at the State Theatre, with Vusi Kunene, Owen Sejake, Peter Mashigo, Thembi Seete and Manaka Ranaka.

Staged at the LaGuardia Theater, New York City in July 1997 as part of "Woza Africa: After Apartheid" at the Lincoln Center Festival '97, directed by Aubrey Sekhabi, with Kgomotso Ntulwana, John Nhlanhla Lata, Don Eric Mlangeni, Silindile Nodangala and Kholofelo Kola. Staged at the Royal Exchange Theatre Studio in Manchester, England in October 2002.

Sources

[Van Heerden (2008)][1]. p 182.

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