DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

The sketches contained in this collection are derived from six different oneperson satirical revues: Bafana Republic (2007), Bafana Republic: Extra Time (2008), Bafana Republic: Penalty Shootout (2009), Pay Back the Curry (2016), State Fracture (2017) and Land Acts (2018).

Except for Land Acts, all of these revues had their first introduction to an audience at the Franschhoek Literary Festival as part of their development.

Again, except for Land Acts, all the satirical revues went through a similar development process. Once I had written the script, the director would rehearse the revue with the actor for a period of three weeks, and then it would be performed at the Franschhoek Literary Festival and in other locations. Audiences were provided with one-page questionnaires through which they were invited to give feedback to each sketch – marking them out of 10, using whatever criteria they wished – with a space for further written feedback on each sketch and to the piece as a whole, including the writing, directing and acting.

As far as possible, and as part of its development, each revue would be performed for audiences that were demographically different, so that, for example, Pay Back the Curry was performed in the Western Cape across several venues: at the Franschhoek Literary Festival, at a private house in Kenilworth, two shows in Delft at the Rainbow Arts Foundation, at the Shack Theatre in Khayelitsha and, for a week, at the Rosebank Theatre.

After each show, I would analyse the feedback gleaned from the questionnaires. On the basis of this analysis, I would amend some sketches, even delete a few, and perhaps change the order so as to ensure a more varied emotional and entertainment journey for the audience through the course of the performance.

The long-suffering directors and actors would have to rework some of the sketches, with the actor having to unlearn many lines, and learn new ones, often before the next development show, where these changes were tested. All saw the value of the process, which, I believe, resulted in Pay Back the Curry achieving a rare feat at its official premiere run on the Fringe of the National Arts Festival in 2016: it sold out all 10 of its shows.