Durban Dialogues, Indian Voice (eBook)

TO HOUSE

Characters

Jason(42)A former businessman who is struggling with his displacement in society. He is losing control over his physical space, emotional constitution and political stature in the community.

Sibusiso(29)A law lecturer who emerges as being strongly self invested and willing to assert his ascendance to power. He has a deeper emotional core but is driven to achieve material success in the face of an underprivileged upbringing.

Sanjay(32)A law lecturer who is desperately trying to find a sense of security. He has to determine his role within the personal space of other people.

Kajol(28)Sibusiso’s live-in girlfriend, she’s a marketing officer who is assertive and independent. She has forsaken some of her family because their views conflict with those of her own in terms of their poor regard for her relationship with Sibusiso and the inappropriate treatment of her mother.

Deena(53)Kajol’s uncle, a successful entrepreneur who is driven by a need to assert his power within his family and in the business sphere. He is adamant that inter-racial relationships should be discouraged and is willing to entrench this belief at all costs.

Nimrod(35)A gardener in the sectional titles complex, he is a dignified and hardworking man. He goes about his business in a quiet and deliberate manner, and whilst he may not be fully aware of the enmeshed relationships in the complex, he has a philosophical nature.

Setting

Oaklands, a sectional titles scheme, in a middle class post-Apartheid suburb in the city of Durban.

Socio-political Context

To House is set during the time that much of the international community perceived as the “honeymoon period” for South Africa. This was a period between the mid 1990s and the early years of the new millennia, during which time the iconic Nelson Mandela served as South Africa’s first democratically elected president and then Thabo Mbeki served his first term as president. Most of the action of the play occurs on one afternoon and the last scene happens on a particular morning two weeks later. However, the author is suggesting that the play’s events could have occurred at any time during this “honeymoon period”.

The first decade of South Africa’s democracy was characterized by genuine attempts at reconciliation, driven by Mandela’s inspired leadership and institutions like the Constitutional Court and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was also a period of sound macro-economic policy. However, the stench of Apartheid had not completely dissipated and the majority of South Africa’s black African population still lived in abject poverty. The transformation of emergency services, public health, education and the housing sector was happening at an alarmingly slow pace. There were still many racist people in South Africa, black and white, but perhaps most significantly, South Africa was shifting towards a class-based struggle. The idea then that we were experiencing a “honeymoon period” was superficial and inaccurate.

To House examines the complexities and contradictions of South Africa’s evolving democracy and poses a fundamentally important question – how do we live together? It exposes South Africa’s shift towards more subtle forms of racism, which are mainly revealed in our boardrooms and living rooms and also focuses on the increasing class divisions across cultural denominations.

The title To House means to accommodate. The full range of the meaning of these words across South Africa’s multi-cultural milieu are explored in this play.

Recommended Set Design

The action takes place in two lounges, which are almost identical in terms of furniture and styling, and the park opposite the sectional titles scheme. It is recommended that one physical space be used to represent the two lounges with the coffee table being removed and replaced for the relevant scenes, and a variation of lighting to emphasize the difference. The lounge setting will occupy the bulk of the stage. The common furniture includes a recliner, a two-seater couch, a side-table and a drinks table. The park design, which consists of a park bench and a fir tree, occupies the far left stage. Alternatively, two separate lounges could be created and this would entail exploring a few moments of action in the one lounge whilst a major scene occurs simultaneously in the other lounge. The use of one space to represent both lounges has greater political and territorial symbolic significance. The creation of both lounges provides a more obvious aesthetic representation and can also provide a degree of flexibility to the director to make a direct comparison between the characters in the two houses.

Stage Layout

This is merely a basic sketch of the layout. No flatage is depicted.

SCENE 1

Jason’s lounge. Lights come up on Jason standing next to the recliner. Jason covers the recliner. He is interrupted by a cell phone ring after one minute. Cell phone rings. Jason answers the telephone.

Hello. Yes. (Pause) She can’t come? But the chair is waiting for her. Who is this? She said she would come at eleven. (Pause) (Sarcastically) Oh, that’s great. (Pause) No, I won’t be here tomorrow. Tell her to phone me on Monday. (He hangs up.) Fucking bitch. (Jason walks across stage uneasily, then picks up the phone and dials Joe.)
Joe. It’s Jason here. Well thanks. Listen, it’s a beautiful day. Why don’t we go for a stroll on the beach after lunch? Sanjay is coming for lunch. (Pause) What do you mean, again? He makes delicious food. That’s why I need a stroll after that. (Pause) Oh. Ja. So you’re going there. Well, another time then. We must talk man. You know, we live in the same complex, but we hardly seem to chat these days. (Pause) No, sure. I realise you’re busy. Alright then. Take care.

Jason ends the call and looks concerned. He begins pacing again, looking impatiently at his watch. He walks to the window, looks out and notices a gardener called Nimrod.

Hey umfaan. Hey Nimrod! You saw Justus today? Mildred told me someone hit him yesterday evening at the park kiosk. Did you see him this morning?

Ja.

Is he okay?

No. His hand is hurt. I think it’s broken, maybe.

Did he go to the doctor?

Ai. I think he’s resting. Maybe he’ll go later.

Tell him he must go to the doctor. Tell him, er… tell him, if he hasn’t got money, he must come see me on Monday. I’ll take him to the doctor.

Alright baas.

Did he tell you who hit him?

No. He said he was Indian. But I don’t know if he knows him. Maybe… maybe he’s scared.

He must tell me who. I don’t care if he’s Indian. Whatever. I’ll sort him out. Nobody assaults my boy.

Ja baas.

Jason is about to close the window but pauses and notices something.

What’s this Khumalo? More furniture? Hey, that looks exactly like my recliner. You fucking copycat. Hey Nimrod. Did you see how boss Khumalo is trying to copy boss Jason’s lounge.

Ja baas. Because your house is too beautiful. That’s why he’s copying you.

Thanks Nimrod. Hey. Be careful you don’t cut your boss Anderson’s petunias. You nearly cut it now. Ja. And Nimrod, please can you trim those overhanging branches. You know, with my buggered leg I can’t reach there. Thank you Nimrod. (Goes to the recliner and removes the covers. He sits on it and speaks to the audience.) Enjoy your new seat of power, Mr Khumalo. I’ll have my final say before I hand over chairmanship of the body corporate. Oaklands will be the way it was again. The way it should always be.

Blackout.

SCENE 2

The park opposite Oaklands. Lights come up on Sanjay sitting on the park bench, looking around uneasily. He is thinking, uncomfortably, about something. He stares ahead, pensively, for a few seconds. Then he takes out his cell phone and dials his mother. His facial expression indicates disappointment as he has received her answering machine.

Hello ma. Sorry I missed you. I guess you left early for your meeting. I woke up early today, and I finished prepare lunch. I made your favourite. Anyway, I wanted to ask you to find out about the er, takeaway thing, before you came over. I need to move on that. Er, Jenkins phoned me this morning. He said he overheard Prof. say that they’re bringing in a professor from Ghana, to lecture criminal law next year. It must be Sibu’s influence. I’m worried about my job ma. (Short pause. Then Sanjay speaks at a hurried pace.) Anyway ma, please ask Beena if her husband can confirm that he’s selling his property. It’s the ideal location for the takeaway. And find out how much he wants. Thanks ma. See you later.

He ends the call, puts his phone away and lights a cigarette. After a few seconds Kajol enters. She notices Sanjay and stops.

Hi Sanjay. (Sanjay stands up...