Theatre presents The Lesson

Lusanda Zokufa

The Market Theatre presents a new version of Eugène Ionesco’s The Lesson by Greg Homann, starring theatre veterans Graham Hopkins and Fiona Ramsay alongside newcomer Lihle Ngubo.

This thrilling new version of the gripping play is based on a translation by Donald Watson.

It is a darkly entertaining theatre production about enforcing power by using knowledge and culture as a weapon.

Set in a small university town, an eager 18-yearold student arrives at the professor’s home for a lesson. The action begins in a naturalistic way but shifts into a stylistic and visual feast, as more surreal and absurd events take hold. What starts as a farcical interaction between the two becomes something more sinister.

The production stars two of South Africa’s most seasoned thespians, Graham Hopkins and Fiona Ramsay, who just concluded a celebrated run of Hansard at the Theatre on the Square. Joining this formidable duo is rising star Lihle Ngubo, who makes her debut on the Market Theatre stage.

The original one-act play sits as a canonic piece of French playwriting by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco, one of the founding fathers of the theatre of the absurd.

This play has been translated into dozens of languages, and its message is no less relevant today than when it was first performed in the aftermath of the Second World War.

This new version by multi-awardwinning theatre maker, Greg Homann, has been updated to connect more directly with a South African audience. The broad structure of the play remains the same, as does the dramatic arc but the language and politics of the work has been shifted to focus on the complexity of a post-colonial education in a contemporary setting.

“I am interested in how the legacy of a colonial education system impacts students today. The national cry to decolonise education, and especially the Rhodes Must Fall Movement, have highlighted the complexity of teaching and learning in a South African university. The Lesson is a theatrical way to represent and explore that politics.” said Greg Homann.

Working with Homann as assistant director is the highly creative Nana Pooe.

“After two years of being restricted to work on our theatre craft due to Covid-19, I feel honoured to be working alongside Greg Homann on this production. Not only is the timing perfect but the politics which arise in The Lesson, and the themes in it, are closest to my heart, systems of oppression, social order and education, among others,” Pooe says.

Homann moved to the United Kingdom shortly before the pandemic and returns to direct this adaptation of the original play.

“Relocating to the UK in 2019 was with the intention of continuing to create work and opportunities that were centred around being South African. I saw the move as a way to challenge how I explore my identity and theatre work beyond the space and home that was so familiar to me. The pandemic has made that challenge greater, and as tough as it has been, it has in some positive ways fed my creativity in aspects that I could never have imagined. I am now more excited than ever to be back in Johannesburg to work on The Lesson at The Market Theatre with a brilliant cast and team,” Homann says.

The comicdrama’s contemporary resonances are clear; it captures the headiness and absolute power of oppressive and toxic patriarchal forms of knowledge production on unsuspecting innocents.

For more information on the play visit the site http:// www.markettheatre.co.za.

African American playwright, Wilson, is best known for his astonishing plays like Fences, Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicles the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. He won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for Fences and earned a second Pulitzer Prize for Piano Lesson Fences is a 1985 play, set in the 1950s. It is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle Fences explores the evolving AfricanAmerican experience and examines race relations, among other themes.

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement Wilson penned the most astonishing stories. He weaved intricate narratives that told the stories of dreamers and dreams deferred.

Ngcobo has started the task of

Playwright and actor John Kani curating the spaces, he ushers the storytelling through this linkage of the narrative from the diaspora, with Fences as part of Black History Month.

This work will feature world renowned Dr John Kani. He will be leading some of the finest talents in Joburg on the Nelson Mandela stage. The cast will be the supporting company that will help the audience gain access to this emotional tale about a family.

Fences will be directed by American playwright Ricardo Khan an acclaimed director on international stages. He co-founded the Tony Award winning Crossroads Theatre Company of New Jersey. Fences is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.

Joburg Theatre will welcome patrons in the New Year with this production to outline the pinnacle success of the 60 years of connecting stars in the City of Gold.