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Showing posts from April, 2019

Salaam Stories – a Theatre Review and Reflection on its Significance within a South African Context

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Salaam Stories , written by Ashraf Johaardien and directed by Niquita Hartley, was recently staged at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective in Observatory – the 2nd time that Cultsha Kennis has seen the show since 2003! Ashraf Johaardien is a Cape Town born playwright whose work has toured internationally. Salaam Stories is a development of the Artscape New Writing Program in 2006, directed by Professor Roy Sargeant. When the show ran at the Baxter Theatre in 2003, the show casted well-loved theatre personalities Chad Abrahams and Farouk Vallie Omar as well as Sufeya Johaardien and Niquita Ayesha Hartley – with Niquita stepping up as director of the show! This time Salaam Stories was executed as a one-man performance, played by Ashalin Singh, which tells the story of several Cape Muslim characters as they reflect on family tradition, history and cultural identity. The story begins with the main narrator arriving on set in eastern garbs, making wudhu (ablution) from a pot