Cheaper than Roses

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Written by: Ismail Mahomed
Directed by: Zane Meas
Actress: Lizz Meiring 
Kosie House of Theatre

Cape Town – Cheaper than Roses was written after a time when South Africans were experiencing oppression, division and identity crisis. After apartheid. Ismail Mahomed takes you back to that time and shows you the universal struggles through a single narrator.

The opening night of Cheaper than Roses, in tribute to the late Fritz Marx, the Manager of Protocol and Mayoral Events for the Western Cape, was a night of entertainment and sentiment. The play may have been set in 1996, but the issues are by no means outdated.

The mood was light but filled with an air of expectation as everyone huddled together drinking wine and chatting before the show. Looking around I realised there were familiar faces around me. David Kramer in one of his famous hats, Pieter-Dirk Uys, and the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, to name just a few.

Cheaper than Roses is a one-woman show starring Lizz Meiring as Betty Fourie. It is set in 1996 at Bredasdorp train station. Betty is visibly upset about something. She mumbles to herself continuously until she sees the poster of President Nelson Mandela and makes him her audience.

You soon learn that her father has passed away and it is the reason she returned to her hometown, Bredasdorp. The story unfolds while she is sitting at the station waiting for the train, which is late.

Betty continuously asks Mandela for his opinion and appreciates his company. She is in awe of his ability to smile against all odds.

Betty Fortuin was a coloured woman from Bredasdorp who took the “opportunity” to be reclassified as a white person during apartheid. However, she soon learned that changing who you are comes at a price. Betty recalls never having considered the impact the new identity would have on her family.

The story takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and you will not always know whether you are laughing out of pity, shock or humour. With Mandela’s 1994 election poster hanging on the pillar as Betty’s only company, it also strikes home as we reflect on those who find themselves “displaced” in our country.

Fritz Marx

After the performance, director Zane Meas and writer Ismail Mahomed joined Meiring on stage in order to pay tribute to Marx. Meiring described Marx as being “a friend of the arts and the City of Cape Town”.

Zille was called up to say a few words about Marx as a friend and colleague. She described Marx as being “loved by many” and that he had “the biggest friendship circle” she had ever seen.

As the audience filed out, each feeling the weight of emotion, we were given a white or red carnation and the opportunity to mingle with friends and celebrate life.

 

This contribution was produced as part of a collaboration between LitNet and the University of Stellenbosch's Department of Journalism in 2014.

 


 

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