A play about a farm murder that caused a national outcry is headed to State Theatre
By CityLife Arts Writer
When teenager Matlhomola Moshoeu was allegedly caught stealing sunflowers at a farm in Coligny, North West province, a few years ago, he was killed by the farmer’s son and there was national outcry about this murder.
Now this Human Rights Month, the South African State Theatre (SAST) in association with Diartskonageng will be showcasing The Red On The Rainbow, a play inspired by the murder of 16 year old Matlhomola Moshoeu who was allegedly caught stealing sunflowers at a farm in Coligny, North West province.
Written and directed by multiple award-winning theatre maker Monageng “Vice” Motshabi, the play explores the lives of black people living in small farming towns in South African. It will show from 10 to 27 March 2022 at the SAST.
The Red On The Rainbow follows the aftermath of the death of a young man on a maize farm at the hands of a farmer’s son and his friends. It explores how time seems to remain frozen, picture-style, in an unending apartheid-ghost-dance. Faced with the death of her only son, a mother must decide whether to surrender to unchanging rhythms of the baas’s kitaar and the zombie dance it demands or to mshoza-style, trample down the toy story heaven in an eternal scream for justice. The play features performers Tshireletso Nkoane, Dambuza Nqumashe, Thato Malebye, and Thapelo Motsiko, Xolile Gama and musicians Sydney Mavundla and Volley Nchabeleng.
In April 2017, rage engulfed Coligny as protestors believed that the killing of Moshoeu was racially motivated. The two white males accused of his murder were found guilty in November 2018 by the Northwest High Court, where one was sentenced to 18 years and the other for 23 years in prison the following year. After appealing, the Supreme Court of Appeal acquitted the men in November last year.
Motshabi comments: “The general spirit of refusing to recognize the humanity of black people that was widely accepted by white people in 1960 can still be seen in most small farming towns today at full blast. Staging this production during human rights month will hopefully remind us that the Sharpeville massacre did not end on Sharpeville Day. In this county victims of human rights abuse still wear a black face. The rainbow is red with black blood.”
Motshabi wrote the play with support from the Literarische Colloquium of Berlin between 2019 and 2020. It was adapted into a short film by Berlin’s Label Noir, which was presented at the Maxim Gorky Theatre in 2020. Last year, the play premiered at the Soweto Theatre as part of Joburg City’s Arts Alive International Arts Festival.
The playwright is the Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winner for Theatre 2017. As part his Young Artist Award, he presented Ankobia, co-written with Omphile Molusi and directed for NAF and The Market Theatre in 2017. A product of the Market Theatre Lab (2001-2002), Motshabi has written Echoes (Naledi Award 2006); O bone eng? presented at the Windybrow Theatre’s Writers on Stage 2007; Chasing Laughter, presented at Mmabana Mafikeng March 2014 and NAF 2014, Book of Rebellations (co- written with Kgafela oa Magogodi and directed for the Soweto Theatre 2014 and Artscape 2015) which was nominated for 3 Naledi Awards and 2 Fleur du Cap Awards.
Tickets for The Red On The Rainbow can be purchased at Webtickets- available online, at the SAST, and Pick n Pay stores nationwide.