Play Commemorates 10th Anniversary of Rhodes Must Fall Movement

Artists are staging a reimagined version of the play “The Fall” to commemorating the 10th anniversary of the #Rhodesmustfall and #FeesMustFall student movements. The play is on at The Market Theatre until 4 May.

Artists are staging a reimagined version of the play “The Fall” to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student movements.

The play produced by theater company, Theatre Duo & Co, focuses on the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the lead up to the removal of the Rhodes statue.

The Fall was initially written by postgraduate drama students at UCT in the wake of mass student protests and the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes from the UCT campus in 2015.

The play described the experiences of students during the movement. It premiered at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in 2016 and has since gone on to win many awards, with tours of the United States and Europe.

The cast of this year’s reimagined version of the play, some of whom were students at UCT at the time of the protest, highlights the experience of students during the protests. They show students grappling with topics such as race, class, gender, sexism, colonialism and patriarchy.

The production, currently staged at the iconic The Market Theatre, “pays tribute to the movement and in doing so, reignites a conversation that really is nowhere close to finished,” says Ketsia Velaphi, spokesperson for Theatre Duo & Co.

Tankiso Mamabolo, a co-writer and cast member, said, “We had just completed our final year and wanted to contribute to the ongoing struggle in a way that made sense for us as artists, so we decided to tell a story that would humanise the students who were a part of the movement and make their stories accessible in a way that hadn’t previously been possible.”

The Market Theatre Foundation’s Artistic Director, Greg Homann, said that staging the play on the 10th anniversary of the student-led protests creates conversations on the ongoing issue of access to education. “The Market Theatre continues to fulfil our historical role of being a vibrant space for staging entertaining and compelling protest theatre, and showcasing creative explorations that confront injustice,” said Homann.

The play’s opening performance on 9 April received a standing ovation from a packed theatre. It will run until 4 May.

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