London opening for playwright’s study on torture
AS A student, Mongi Mthombeni endured several hours of terror when he was arrested, beaten up and tortured by a policeman. The assault so traumatised him that he buried it away in a dark corner of his mind for many years. But while he was attending playwrighting workshops hosted by London’s Royal Court Theatre recently, the time seemed right finally to put pen to paper and spit it all out.The result is I See You, written by Mthombeni under his pen name Mongiwekhaya and directed by actress Noma Dumezweni, who was recently cast as the adult Hermione Granger in the forthcoming Harry Potter stage adaptation.Mthombeni’s drama about police brutality, the definition of "blackness" and power relations in SA will debut at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on February 25.It is part of the theatre’s 60th birthday celebrations.The play is coproduced with Johannesburg’s Market Theatre, where it will be presented after its London season.Mthombeni wrote it while attending the Royal Court’...
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