| What: Far Gone Where and when: Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, November 11–15, 2025 Joburg Theatre, Johannesburg, November 19–22, 2025 Writer/performer: John Rwothomack Director: Mojisola Kareem Producer: Roots Mbili Theatre Bookings: www.webtickets.co.za |
𝐅𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 – 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐑𝐰𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐤
𝐁𝐚𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐯 𝟏𝟏–𝟏𝟓
𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠, 𝐍𝐨𝐯 𝟏𝟗–𝟐𝟐
Standing ovation for the excellent Far Gone. The play was seeded by his own experiences, when he avoided being kidnapped by the LRA (Lord’s 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 won’t plot spoil. It is a harrowing story, with a heartbreaking outcome. The brilliant Rwothomack 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. That’s all I will say but it does add a quirky spin theatrically which is immersive and enchanting. Rwothomack’s 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 ‘story’, and makes for gripping but unsettling theatre. We must not look away as we chant along to the narrative.
Far Gone is not John’s 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 ‘othered’. In an interview with me on The Cape Robyn, he said: “Being a Black African artist in the UK is a mixed experience — you’re grateful for the opportunities, but you’re also constantly aware of how easily your story gets misunderstood or flattened. That’s partly why I started writing and performing my own work. Sheffield has been kind to me though; it’s become a second home, and a place where I’ve been able to grow as an artist without losing connection to where I come from.” 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 “lean closer into the truth of it, more confidently,” 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 doesn’t know anyone who has come back from being abducted. Can anyone ‘come back’ from such a situation and being a child abductee? Rwothomack says in our interview: “My play doesn’t offer easy hope — it’s not a romance or a coming-of-age story — 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.”
Go see it.
