Although it opens with a song and a dance, The Playground, put on by a group of Canada World Youth (CWY) students, is an intense play.
Written by Beverly Naidoo, it is set in South Africa around a time of great change, when desegregation is about to take place and both white and black populations are in transition.
The 18 CWY young adults are from all different parts of Canada and South Africa with one student from Kenya. They have spent their time on the Coast getting to know each other and working in the community before preparing to leave for Africa in early December.
"This is our big show before we leave," said one young actor from Montreal.
Proceeds from the show go to assist useful projects. Last year the non-Canadian young people were from Mozam-bique and they used the money they raised from a theatre production to aid a school and help provide clean drinking water for a village.
They are not professional actors most have never had any experience with theatre but they have actor, storyteller, dancer and director Jean Pierre Makosso, originally from the Congo and now living in Gibsons, to work the group into shape before their Nov. 24 opening.
At rehearsals there's lots of good-natured banter between the performers and their director. Makosso demonstrates such useful acting techniques as finding centre stage and how to fall safely, even when you are being pushed by a soldier. As the play begins, a group of Africans move out on stage one gorgeous female voice floats out above the others, a clear and true song. It's followed by dancing in which a group demonstrate their pretty cool moves.
"It's fun right now, but the play becomes more intense," said CWY co-ordinator Kelly Hazlett, who hails from Edmonton.
Although the Canadian performers knew something about apartheid prior to the play, mounting this production has helped them understand the country a lot more.
The Playground is a post-apartheid story. The idea grew from a news report about the first black girl to enter an all-white primary school in a rural town where white parents fiercely resisted the new laws on integration. It is also a love story between two children, white and black.
Naidoo, the playwright, was born into a white middle class family in South Africa, worked for the anti-apartheid movement and was jailed for her efforts. She departed the country to study in England for many years where she taught school, and she returned freely to South Africa in 1991. The CWY students are hoping to meet her when they arrive there in December.
The Playground is suitable for young people and families. It runs Nov. 24 to 26 at 8 p.m. at Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons and is presented by Makosso Village and CWY. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 for children, available at Gaia's Fair Trade in Gibsons, Roberts Creek Health Food Store and WindSong Gallery in Sechelt.
