Review: Reza de Wet’s African Gothic (Diepe Gronde), brilliantly directed by Amee Lekas, exceptional theatre

Reza de Wet’s play Diepe Gronde was first performed in 1986- while Apartheid was very much on the boil. De Wet translated her play into English in 2005, in post-Apartheid, democratic South Africa. The title shifted from Deep Ground, Run to Ground and then to African Gothic. Amee Lekas is directing African Gothic at Theatre Arts in Cape Town, from December 1-6, 2023. Lekas is one of the recipients of the 2023 Theatre Arts Emerging Director Bursary and this production was made possible by the bursary. Lekas’ African Gothic is a brilliant production. This is exceptional theatre – performances, design and exquisitely tender and nuanced direction by Lekas. The play is hectic – with violence, incest, psychosis and madness – but in the hands of Lekas and the talented cast – this is theatre which is transcendent and enthralling. Much of the narrative is played out through games, rituals and re-enactments of the protagonist’s childhood, which tempers the horror through symbolism and metaphor. It is hectic but not gruelling to sit through because the theatrical language is deeply layered and Lekas’ experience and facility with physical theatre imbues this play with an energy which makes the hour and half of running time, whiz by.

Lekas has teased out the comedy of the absurd in this story. It is magical. Watch out for the spoon clanking the tea-cup scene. Magical and hilarious- clowning and vaudeville in African Gothic. Do not Google to find out about what transpires. I had no idea and whoa – you don’t want to spoil this experience by knowing the plot.  But I can give you a teaser…

In African Gothic, we see siblings, Sussie and Frikkie in the family home, on a farm. The home was once beautiful but is now a wreck, with the cracks in the glass on the door. Everything is falling apart, damaged. Nell van der Merwe design beautifully frames the scene for this ruin of a house and the damaged siblings and their feral existence. They share the home with their childhood nanny who remains after the violent death of their parents, Ma and Pa. The nanny is a key figure in this story – witness, collaborator, co-dependant. It is a story of enabling and generational trauma. The three have nested in this wreck of a space, retaining a fragile balance. They are tethered and bound to each other in mutual denial and have somehow found an equilibrium of a state of happiness in their delusion. It is not perfect and they know it. The siblings are digging a deep hole hoping to find water to end the drought and wash their madness away but essentially keep the status quo intact. That ends with the entrance of Grove, the lawyer of their aunt, who has passed away. Everything changes.

When Reza de Wet wrote the play, she was speaking out and providing “a glimpse into the Afrikaans psyche, exposing the treacherous waters that ran beneath the white Afrikaans apartheid veneer at the height of the State of Emergency.” It was a subversive take on the White Afrikaner posturing behind the supposed morality of religion, meanwhile behind closed doors, deep waters ran deep into the ground.  Lekas says: “I chose African Gothic because Reza De Wet wrote this play in a time when it was unheard of to talk about something so dangerous but real. She exposed something that probably gave many people sleepless nights. She confronted them with the truth.”

Lekas is a school teacher in Cape Town at Good Hope Seminary. African Gothic is a Grade 10 set work. Yes, this hectic, hectic play is a set-work. Lekas loves the play, is intrigued by it and so are her students. When she was selected as one of the winners of the Theatre Arts Emerging Director Bursary (2023), she grabbed the opportunity to stage one of her favourite plays. Her intention is to tour the production to schools. Her target audience is young people. Her students, she told me are mostly Coloured or Black and it was important for her to cast the play, cognisant of the student body at her school.

 In De Wet’s time, the siblings were white. Now, in post democratic South Africa, family has become fluid and parentage is less binary than it was when the play was first staged in the 1980s. The casting makes absolute sense in this production. It may have been a lot to do with ‘race’ in de Wet’s day but now, the gaze is on the damaged siblings. Race is immaterial. Afrikaans culture and identity is another story. The crux of the story, the decay, moral duplicity, hypocrisy and brutality in families is what is foregrounded in this production – and is sadly so relatable.

It is extraordinary to watch as the narrative spools out. Lekas has Sussie (brilliantly played by Karli Heine ), spurting out monologues in Afrikaans (most of the dialogue is in English). The Afrikaans fiercely conveys the origins of the play – about Afrikaners- but it is an Afrikaans family which resonates now – in 2023 – South Africa. We are not watching a Reza de Wet play set in period of the 1980s. I think that this is what makes it so thrilling to watch, Lekas has retained the subversive excavation of De Wet’s story and yet tempered it with a millennial zing. If you are interested in the title, African Gothic and the poster that Amee Lekas conceptualised for this production, check out the extended caption, below, in this review.

Lekas’ direction of African Gothic is brilliant. This is exceptional theatre – a hectic play – which is thrilling and mesmerising to watch. I attended the preview on November 30 and was amazed at how polished and “fully cooked” this production presents.  Sure, there is space for tweaking, heightening of tension in certain parts and what-not. But, wow this is an extraordinary production. African Gothic is one of my top picks of South African plays for 2023. Please, please, do not miss African Gothic, directed by Amee Lekas, at Theatre Arts in Cape Town, until December 6, 2023.

✳ African Gothic (Diepe Grond) by Reza de Wet, directed by Amee Lekas, at Theatre Arts, Cape Town. Image © TheCapeRobyn/Robyn Cohen