| What: this braโs a pyscho Writer/director: Zubayr Charles Performers: James Stoffberg and Anzio September Lighting: Roy Hoffman Where: Artscape Arena Theatre When: Tuesday, 29 July 2025 โ Saturday, 2 August 2025 (6 Performances) Age restriction: No U/16. Language and violence Duration: 70 minutes (no interval) Tickets: R150 Bookings: Webtickets Direct booking link: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1571252182 |
Standing ovation at the preview for ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค, written and directed by Zubayr Charles. The play is on July 29 to August 2, 2025 at Artscape in the Arena (six shows). The two hander is performed by Anzio September and James Stoffberg and is directed by Charles. Get there for a mind flipping trip, a gripping psychological crime thriller which grinds through a disturbing landscape of dating in a gay milieu, shrouded in shame, fear, under the cover of dark. This rousing new play is brave, confrontational and entertaining. Excellent script and performances.
In the lead up to seeing this play, I mused that I was intrigued. After seeing the play, I am even more intrigued – by the characters and narrative lines. In tandem with grinding through and tackling uncomfortable narrative lines of online hook-ups with gay men (even those who are married to women), Charles delivers a thrilling hour of theatre. I wonโt plot spoil as to the identity of the killer. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The outcome left me with questions, pondering the protagonists, their back stories and motivations.
Yes, this is the first run of the fully fledged play script and yes, it could be tweaked for clarity in conveying the narratives – and particularly the back stories which I think need fleshing out theatrically. However, having said that, I loved the blurring and overlapping between the notion of perpetrators and victims. In a fugue of anxiety, intoxication and passion, what drives people to feel alive? What drives individuals to unleash violence?
I loved the staging – lighting, music and design. Visually, it is beautiful theatre, alluring and seductive. We are seduced and drawn into the glow and promise of the magic circle. Beautiful lighting design by Roy Hoffman. A scattering of props are used to ring changes – a mask from a masquerade party where everyone is anonymous, hand cuffs, a police cap. Scene shifts are vividly relayed via markers such as a bed and table.
The screen as the medium for dating on Grindr is judiciously positioned to evoke the anonymous transactionality of the app but is not overdone. The minimalist use of a screen on the stage, gives space for the stage craft to take centre stage without the constant invasive intrusion of pings and alerts. Nuanced physically charged performances by Anzio September and James Stoffberg who embed themselves in the characters who are complex, complicated, flawed, passionate. They transfigure saviour complexes and angels who are wrestling against demons and psychos. I am being cryptic but I donโt want to plot spoil.
Charles as director has put tremendous care into the set and costume design, with exquisite attention to detail. Watch how September and Stoffberg are dressed in their socks and undies – white versus red, dripping in symbolism.
Watching this play and a line pinged for me, from Leonard Cohenโs song, Closing Time: โLooks like freedom but it feels like death.โ The protagonists in ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค want connection, love and affirmation. The freedom they yearn for is shadowed by death, violation and violence. As mentioned above, it makes for gripping viewing. I was hooked.
Bravo to Zubayr Charles, Anzio September and James Stoffberg and the creatives involved in staging this play. Beyond its important lens on dating by gay men and the silence which generally muzzles conversations in mainstream theatre, it is a play with a universal thrust. It is intensely embedded in a Cape Town Zeitgeist but it reverberates in a wider sense of being relatable for anyone who is out there, navigating online dating. It is very entertaining – never mind the questions and conversations it ignites as a cautionary tale – for all to heed: Looks like freedom – but may be deadly.
Charles who is a drama teacher at a school, by day is an exciting โ and brave voice – in theatre. His dialogue riffs off a Cape Town argot, with an intensity and lyricism. I think that with the psychological thriller genre, he has found his metier. ย The genre elevates the narrative, beyond โissuesโ, whilst driving home uncomfortable truths. I hope that ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค will be staged beyond its premiere season at Artscape.
โณ Featured image – James Stoffberg in ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค, written and directed by Zubayr Charles, July 29 to August 2, 2025 , Artscape in the Arena, Cape Town. Pic: Jeremeo le Cordeur. Supplied.
