Durban Dialogues, Then and Now (eBook)

Summary and Analysis

Durban Dialogues, Then and Now is a second anthology of plays by Ashwin Singh. It examines the transitional lives of South Africans as they attempt to dismantle the legacy of Apartheid and interrogate the unfulfilled and sometimes idealistic promises of a maturing democracy.

In Ashwin’s first anthology of plays, Durban Dialogues, Indian Voice he examines several different social themes: the evolving culture of multi-racial communities as they negotiate living in sectional title schemes and the politics of their work spaces (To House); a satire set on an airship which examines the socio-political foibles of a society jostling for power (Duped); the last days of hawkers and shopkeepers in Grey Street as people turn to shopping in malls more frequently (Spice ’n Stuff); a one-man comedy-drama which chronicles the inspiring stories of unsung heroes living in a small town (Reoca Light); and a day in the life of three Black women who either live or work in a formerly White suburb (Beyond the Big Bangs). Durban Dialogues, Then and Now features three further plays by Ashwin, namely Into the Grey, Shooting and Swing. The two anthologies obviously share similar geo-political realities and overarching thematic explorations but are quite different in the plot devices, tone, character construction and storylines.

Into the Grey takes the reader on a twenty-nine year journey of the bisecting lives of its two central characters. When we first meet Logan Pillay it is in his capacity as an activist. He is offering recollections of past incidents of violence and social insights to a crowd that has gathered at a recently burned beloved community building. The reader is immediately placed in the reality that our social ills are assuming cyclical patterns, which is a sobering reality for South Africans in our current tumultuous political climate. Logan’s introduction to Sandile Ndlovu is as fellow students who have been arrested during protest action on campus. Their initial scepticism of each other turns to friendship and respect for their role as activists and skilled professionals until they become socially disengaged when they focus on individual professional pursuits. Logan becomes a specialist obstetrician and Sandile, who is an advocate, pursues a career in politics.

Lurking through the play is the constant uncertainties they face as they negotiate the many ‘greys’ that constitute the personal and professional challenges they experience. The choices in their lives no longer resemble the clarity of polarized views but instead have a multiplicity of realities. Individual needs are challenged by organizational requirements, long working hours take precedence over personal lives and result in fatigued and murky decisions as well as poor service delivery. Sandile admits: “I’m living in the dirty grey now, Logan.” In that instance he is admitting his failing and then he asks for forgiveness. However, his own redemption is a journey of uncertainty that he initiates, and in so doing develops a more secure sense of self-worth. Logan similarly takes ownership of his own mistakes later in his life and reveals his sentiments that he is ‘dying in the dirty grey’.

Into the Grey gives us snapshots into the lives of the characters and through it we learn about their conflicts, chaos and choices. The play serves as a mirror to our nation’s political portraits, much of which leaves the reader pulsating with emotions. However, as in most of Ashwin’s works there is the element of hope that the ‘grey’ that we are entering is offering us the opportunity to explore uncertainty with the assurance that we can understand ourselves better than before and hopefully engage in nation building.

Shooting is a harrowing one-man play about a football prodigy, Ishaan Singh who never gets to realise his dream and is murdered as a young adult. The story is told through the eyes of his cousin Jehan Singh, a young lawyer who has come from Johannesburg to their home town Reoca to attend the funeral and deal with his cousin’s personal effects. As he sifts through the belongings of his cousin he unpacks their shared history as children and recalls their joy of playing sport together. He also reveals that the emotional and physical abuse suffered by Ishaan at the hands of his family as well as a lack of institutional support shattered the young man’s dreams. Shooting is a memory play and requires skilled writing to maintain the narrator’s anguish in dealing with the trauma of losing his cousin while recollecting past traumas and not dematerialising into sentimentality. It is also a delicate balance in engaging the reader’s feelings as one shifts from emotional distress to celebrating joyful memories of Jehan and Ishaan playing sport innocently in their backyard and thrilling the neighbourhood.

Ashwin constructs recollections reflective of a muddled mind filled with emotional turmoil but seeking to explore a better understanding of a childhood that is forever lost for both Jehan and Ishaan. Through the review Ashwin grounds Jehan in the house which he had occupied as a child and which Ishaan came to live in during the last days of his adulthood. The shared space affords Jehan the opportunity to reconnect spiritually with Ishaan while allowing him to keep the current and past interferences from the outside at bay. Jehan is no longer engaging in his childhood practice of ‘shooting’ which is an Indian colloquialism used to describe a person being prone to adopting a colourful retelling of a story. Instead the shooting of his cousin has brought a sobering realisation that Ishaan and he had barely connected in recent years and that there were several unanswered questions about his cousin’s life. Ultimately, Jehan is offered release from his feeling that he failed Ishaan when he is able to freely remember the many occasions they enjoyed shooting goals in the backyard. By doing this Jehan is able to reconcile the contradictory nature of the people who inhabited his childhood memories and to give Ishaan the acknowledgement that he never truly got in life.

Shooting unashamedly presents the poor Indian South African family, a reality which is seldom acknowledged in our country. Jehan recalls the sacrifices that his mother had to make so that she could meet financial demands. He goes on further to comment: “I still watch mothers in grocery stores. Trying to get the best for their children. And often putting the products back on the shelf.” This brings to the fore the reality that democratic South Africa did not bring social and economic uplift for many communities across racial barriers. The fortitude of the play is when the failings of individuals within those communities is highlighted as being the ultimate betrayal of the children who reside there. This is demonstrated by abusive and neglectful parents, a drug dealer peddling his goods and a rich businessman making false promises to develop the neighbourhood.

Swing is Ashwin’s first two-hander and has as its two central characters Samantha, a mixed-race tennis player and clinical psychology graduate from Greenwood Park and her father Ram who is her coach and mentor. Mr Rajpaul, a journalist we first learn about in Reoca Light, has asked the father/daughter team to reveal to him Samantha’s journey in achieving success in the tennis arena and the details of the rivalry between Samantha and Lerato Sibisi, a South African tennis champion. Samantha has an excellent support base who invest in her emotionally and make financial sacrifices to assist her to develop her tennis skills. Samantha and Ram share a deep love of sport and have each used it to tame the bullies in their lives and to unite their extended family. The play is a celebration of the adoration a father and daughter have for each other and through the interview with the reporter they challenge many previously held misperceptions. In a society that seldom acknowledges the girl child it is refreshing to have a father profess with joy the boundless opportunities that his daughter could have. While he is cradling her soon after her birth he proclaims: “You will not play second fiddle to any boy… and to any man.”

Swing also challenges the commonly accepted notion that the world should only acknowledge winners. The concept of being a winner as a nation has even invaded the rhetoric of international politics. Samantha has excelled in her academic studies but appears to play second fiddle to Lerato in tennis tournaments. Samantha questions whether “Lerato is obsessed with winning… pursuing the American dream rather than being guided by African ideals.” Lerato comes from a poor background and was fortunate to receive a tennis scholarship to a Californian university where she was able to develop her talent further. She is the admired athlete and Ram questions whether there is a “hierarchy of Blackness” when Lerato’s race is over-emphasised by a commentator. He believes it is a disservice to Lerato as it reduces her to being purely a race representative and it also fails to acknowledge other previously disadvantaged communities. Despite a progressive constitution South Africa remains a society divided on race, culture and class issues. Samantha’s parents’ interracial relationship which at that time was illegal serves as a reminder that we can set aside our prejudices. Samantha’s existence and the values that she exhibits suggest that there is hope for the future of the nation.

The use of the double narrator to play all the roles in Swing is intriguing. It allows for creative storytelling and enables a cathartic process to occur as the narrators role-play the...