Making a scene at Constitution Hill’s old jail
THE place is awash with menacing-looking types wearing brown uniforms, wielding weapons and barking orders to timid prisoners wearing oversized khaki uniforms.The scene looks intimidating until the cameras reveal that this is just a scene in playwright and songwriter Mbongeni Ngema’s new film at the Old Fort, a former notorious prison at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.The stage version of Asinamali was Ngema’s first production to go to Broadway in the 1980s, where it carried an anti-apartheid banner and became a phenomenal success.The large complex where the film was being shot in August is split into four parts: the Old Fort, the Women’s Gaol, the Number Four prison block and the Constitutional Court. In addition to its extensive permanent art and museum exhibits, the complex also hosts regular art and photography exhibitions and lectures, and has an impressive permanent art collection.During apartheid many political activists including Albertina Sisulu, Ruth First...
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