Anthony Akerman's Somewhere on the Border Plays at The Market Theatre
Anthony Akerman’s Border War play, Somewhere on the Border, is currently showing at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg. Directed by André Odendaal, the play opened on 10 January and coincides with the publication of Somewhere on the Border, the script, by Wits University Press.
Written by Akerman in exile and banned in apartheid South Africa because of its portrayal of the South African Armed Forces, Somewhere on the Border now takes its rightful place as part of a public dialogue on the horrors of conscription.
According to Leon van Nierop, “the play performs an open heart surgery on the South African psyche.” It continues at The Market’s Theatre’s Main Theatre until 12 February 2012.
Press release:
The horrors of a lost generation will be brought into stark relief when Somewhere on the Border, written by Anthony Akerman and directed by Andre Odendaal, is presented at the Market Theatre from 10 January to 12 February.
The play was written by Akerman while in exile, intercepted in the post and banned as a publication by apartheid censorship because the language was considered “offensive” and the portrayal of the South African Armed Forces “prejudicial to the safety of the state”.
“In the 1980s Somewhere on the Border took a stand against young white conscripts being sent to the border. Today, by retelling their story, the play has shown it can help those former conscripts to process what they went through and arrive at some form of healing or closure,” says Akerman.
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In an article in the Daily Maverick, Lesley Stones argues that she has “never seen a play that so vividly captures the essence of those times and conditions as well as Somewhere on the Border does”:
Many of the young men who served their military conscription were damaged by the experience. Physically and emotionally, they were scarred by the brutal way their superiors treated them, or from the moral abhorrence of killing an enemy because their skin was a different colour.
But I’ve never seen a play that so vividly captures the essence of those times and conditions as well as Somewhere on the Border does.
It’s naturally not a comfortable play to watch, although it is engrossing, even 25 years later in this revival at The Market Theatre. Playwright Anthony Akerman hopes that in retelling the story of young white conscripts sent to the Angolan border might help them to reach some healing or closure. It’s a laudable goal, but I doubt it’ll be achieved. But at least the play will remind the survivors that they weren’t alone in questioning the morality of the Border War and, indeed, apartheid in general.
The Mail & Guardian spoke to Malcolm Purkey, artistic director of The Market Theatre, about the continued significance of Akerman’s Border War play:
Book details
- Somewhere on the Border by Anthony Akerman
Book homepage
EAN: 9781868145607
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Photo courtesy the Daily Maverick
