| Who: Brasse, Tot Laat Toe When: August 7-15, 2026 Where: Baxter Masambe Theatre, Cape Town Writer: Zubayr Charles Director: Carlo Daniels Cast: Anzio September and Abdullatief Davids Bookings: Webtickets |
Walking into the Baxter Masambe Theatre, last week for the opening of Zubayr Charles’ play Brasse, Tot Laat Toe, to find the walls and curtains stripped. The space has been gutted for the wrenching and heart-breaking drama in which two men, who were once close, meet again, after 15 years. Anzio September and Abdullatief Davids are directed by Carlo Daniels. This is the first “official” run, after its acclaimed debut at the 2026 Suidoosterfees.
The play has been written in Afrikaaps – an argot very specific to the Cape Flats in Cape Town. It is not just Afrikaans. It is the Kaspse take on Afrikaans – a mash up of multiple cultural strands. My Afrikaans is not great and with this play, the dialogue is dense. As I felt that the language barred me from chunks of the script, I refrained from, writing a review as I have clearly missed out on much of the narrative. However, the play has been in my head for the week and here I am with some thoughts. I hope that it will be staged again. It marks an important juncture in the career of Zubayr Charles, as playwright, in terms of staging – transcending words on paper – to a viscerally charged lived performance – bathed in a magical realism – to transcend anguish,
Brasse, Tot Laat Toe is Charles’ 5th staged play and the first time, that he is not in the director’s seat. Multi award winning Carlo Daniels has brought his physical theatre approach to the staging of this play about two men who were once so close. They were more than friends – like brothers. What caused there estrangement? Choices and responses – it is complicated – by family, culture, religion, societal expectations and pressures. Friendship and love is tricky and everything is connected.
It is an intense play. Daniels’ direction is not only tuned into Charles’ nuanced script – what these two men say to each other – after years apart – all the recriminations and accusations and stuff that is bottled inside but through physical movement, the trauma that is carried by the men, is expressed through their bodies. So yes, I missed out on a lot of the language but physical performance created a vivid picture of two bodies – dancing around each other. There is an urgent intimacy between the two ex-besties – as they tussle with each other in a liminal space. Picture frames dangle. The frames are empty. They contained memories. But the images have been erased and here they are – these two men – with only their bodies – their voices – their gestures – as a way of connecting. There are prayer mats and objects scattered in the space and on the walls – a palimpsest of the past and present. The Masambe becomes the container to sift through the past and try and calibrate the present, by holding space, through conversation; to try and reach an understanding and acceptance of ties that connect and disconnect us.
The production is beautiful – bathed in a blue, purple glow of light – which is juxtaposed against the sheer grief, befuddlement, anger and recriminations of the men. They are both dressed in white – for me that pings in terms of the holy and sacrosanct. If one stripped out the words – Brasse, Tot Laat Toe – could be a piece of dance theatre. Junaid (Anzio September), in particular, skirts the walls of the theatre, hugging the walls, rather than his long lost friend.
I am still mulling and processing this play, wrapped in an urgent and visceral intimacy. For more, see interviews with the team: Zubayr Charles https://thecaperobyn.co.za/interview-zubayr-charles-brasse-tot-laat-toe-from-short-story-to-stage/and with Daniels, September and Davids https://thecaperobyn.co.za/interview-brasse-tot-laat-toe-anzio-september-abdullatief-davids-and-carlo-daniels-in-conversation/
✳ Brasse, Tot Laat Toe, by Zubayr Charles, August 7-15, 2026. This pic – Aug 7, Baxter Masambe Theatre, Cape Town . Pic: Robyn Cohen/TheCapeRobyn.
