‘THE Road to Mecca’, to be staged for the first time in Namibia, is the last play performance in this year’s contemporary theatre festival of Committed Artists of Namibia.
‘The Road to Mecca’ is a play by South African playwright Athol Fugard. It was inspired by the story of Helen Martins who lived in Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape, South Africa and created The Owl House, now a provincial heritage site.
The play, adapted for the local stage by playwright Frederick B Philander, had its premiere at the Lyttelton Theatre, London on 22 February 1985 and was subsequently made into a feature film with Fugard in the male lead role, the late South African theatre doyen, Yvonne Bryceland and American film star, Cathy Bates in the female roles.
‘The Road to Mecca’ deals with the eccentric life style and strange creativity of Miss Helen Niemand, who in real life lived a secluded artistic life at New Bethesda in the Karoo, South Africa. She created simple statues of mermaids, owls, peacocks and camels until she committed suicide at a late stage in her life.
The Committed Artists of Namibia cast features senior CAN actress Felicity Celento in the role of Elsa and Frederick Philander who portrays Reverend Marius and also directs the play. True to its publicly declared policy of featuring new stage talent with every performance, CAN is introducing, Tania Hartz, a local career occupational therapist, in her debut performance in the role as miss Helen.
Celento has been the organising secretary of CAN for the past 25 years and has featured in plays from the pen of Philander such as the internationally acclaimed play, ‘King of the Dump’, ‘The Beauty Contest’, the first Namibia functionally nude stage work, ‘Will of a Die-hard Soldier’, ‘The Porrige Queen’ and the Afrikaans version of ‘Boesman and Lena’ by Athol Fugard.
‘The Road to Mecca’ will be staged nightly at 20h00 on Thursday 26, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 September at the Ultimate Theatre in the Eldorado Secondary school hall in Khomasdal. Tickets for the performances will be available at the door.
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