Going solo, telling many tales of apartheid

South African TV personality and stage actor Jailoshini Naidoo portrayed a loving husband, a strict principal, and a worried father in quick succession as she performed solo on the plight of black people about half a century ago.

Indians too were counted among those she essayed. Many of those removed from Cato Manor town, close to Durban in the early 1950s, were Indian. The mass removal of people occurred after the South African government passed a law to move and resettle people in townships.

A collection of four short stories, "At The Edge" was staged Wednesday as part of the international theatre festival, Going Solo. There were two other plays too, and the performance will travel next to Mumbai.

"Indians were taken to South Africa as slaves and were given this area to settle down. Later, many black people rented land from Indian landlords and they shared a harmonious relationship before they were forcibly removed from this place," Naidoo told IANS.

"The play tells their side of the stories: Happy and sad, the way they lived in harmony and the pain that came with leaving the place they called home," she said. Naidoo's great-grandfather too had come to Africa as a slave, and it was easy for her to relate to Cato Manor of the 1950s.

The seeds of racial segregation or apartheid in South Africa were sown in 1948, when four colour classifications - black, white, coloured and Indian - were introduced in new legislation. The new law stripped many lives of happiness and peace.

The hour-long performance highlighted the anxieties and fears of people living in Cato Manor town.

A popular TV presenter in South Africa, Naidoo said going solo on stage was exciting, but also a challenge.

"It is a very difficult experience; challenging, terrifying, at times lonely," she said.

This is her third visit to India, the actress said, adding that she needed to return to explore the country in greater depth.

"South Africa has a big Indian population and we are quite a dynamic community who make many social and economic contributions," she said.

--Ino-Asian News Service

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