| What: Far Gone ย Where and when: Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, November 11โ15, 2025 Joburg Theatre, Johannesburg, November 19โ22, 2025 Writer/performer: John Rwothomack Director: Mojisola Kareem Producer: Roots Mbili Theatre Bookings: www.webtickets.co.zaย |
๐ ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ – ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐๐๐ค
๐๐๐ฑ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฏ ๐๐โ๐๐
๐๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐, ๐๐จ๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ , ๐๐จ๐ฏ ๐๐โ๐๐
Standing ovation for the excellent Far Gone. The play was seeded by his own experiences, when he avoided being kidnapped by the LRA (Lordโs Resistance Army) in Uganda. He was eight and he hid when the soldiers came to his village, his mom’s village, at night. It was dark. He and his friends were lucky to evade capture. Imagine the fear and terror.
Far Gone is a fictionalised story. We see brothers, ripped from their homes, to do the work of their abductors. Family has been left behind – a loving mother, a toxic abusive father. What would you do to survive? Kill or be killed. A photo of a mom is a beautiful and stirring leitmotif in this play.
I wonโt plot spoil. It is a harrowing story, with a heartbreaking outcome. The brilliant Rwothomackย conjures up multiple characters and situations, through physical theatre, which evokes the brutality of war, rupture, grief – sweat, grunts, howls, chants (more on that).
Play is woven into the piece which brings in some light. Get there early – for an opportunity to play. Thatโs all I will say but it does add a quirky spin theatrically which is immersive and enchanting. Rwothomackโs rapport with the audience is wonderful as he invites us into the journey, into the story.
Chanting is involved. No pressure to participate but most people do. There is a seduction in a group chanting, bonding, supporting each other. Think of soldiers in military situations – call and response cadences. Think of sports events. John uses chanting not only narratively but dramatically to heighten the hypnotic effect of being militarized – the repetition of call and response chants.
For child soldier abductees, this is amplified by the sing song chants. The chanting, together with the aspects of play, transfigures the text into a transformative theatre experience – beyond its impact as a โstoryโ, and makes for gripping but unsettling theatre. We must not look away as we chant along to the narrative.
Far Gone is not Johnโs story – narratively speaking – but it is his story. It is his milieu.
He lives in Sheffield in the UK and although he has been welcomed there, there is a sense of being an outsider, of being โotheredโ. In an interview with me on The Cape Robyn, he said: โBeing a Black African artist in the UK is a mixed experience โ youโre grateful for the opportunities, but youโre also constantly aware of how easily your story gets misunderstood or flattened. Thatโs partly why I started writing and performing my own work. Sheffield has been kind to me though; itโs become a second home, and a place where Iโve been able to grow as an artist without losing connection to where I come from.โ See: https://thecaperobyn.co.za/interview-bringing-the-story-home-john-rwothomacks-far-gone-sa-tour-november-2025/
He is grateful to be presenting the play on the African continent, in South Africa which allows him to โlean closer into the truth of it, more confidently,โ than he can do for example in the UK.
Far Gone is not a fluffy piece of theatre. It is a story of grief, rupture, displacement, loss of childhood; loss of family, community, life. We were chatting after the opening at the Baxter. Rwothomack says he doesnโt know anyone who has come back from being abducted. Can anyone โcome backโ from such a situation and being a child abductee? Rwothomack says in our interview: โMy play doesnโt offer easy hope โ itโs not a romance or a coming-of-age story โ but it does offer humanity. And for children whose stories were cut short, sometimes humanity is the only form of justice we can still give them.โ
Go see it.
