Dear Baxter friends
This August, The Baxter is proud to present the world premiere of Neighbourhood, written and directed by one of South Africa’s most prolific young theatre-makers, the award-winning, Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni. She creatively and humanely investigates the South African housing crisis through a comprehensive, year-long, research-based play. What makes a good neighbourhood? What makes a bad neighbourhood? The riveting story explores the burning and lingering effects of spatial apartheid in the ongoing fight for land justice and affordable housing in urban areas. Set in contemporary South Africa, the play follows the relationship between two fictional neighbourhoods, Lindela, an informal settlement that sees many of its community members travel to and from Everwood, an upper-middle-class suburb, for better work and education opportunities. After multiple cries for affordable housing within the neighbourhood they seek their livelihoods from, the Lindela community members take matters into their own hands and move into Everwood, to become neighbours to those they serve. The timing of this pressing play could not have come at a more appropriate time, given the severe winter storms which has been ravaging Cape Town and other parts of the country, leaving many communities displaced and homeless.
Tiisetso is a playwright, theatre maker and producer who strives to make provocative content focused on themes of social politics, history and violence in contemporary South Africa. She has been described as a “theatre prodigy” in the Cape Times, a “brilliant young mind” by TEDxYouth Cape Town and as a playwright-director who has “her ear to the ground, her heart in the right place and a mind worth tapping into,” in Daily Maverick. She graduated with a BA in Politics and International Studies, Philosophy and Dramatic Arts from Rhodes University and a BA (Hons) in Directing for Stage from the University of Cape Town. Her plays Sainthood and Delela have, between them, garnered a Standard Bank Ovation Award and four Fleur du Cap nominations with a win for Best New South African Script in 2024. Watch the interview with Tiisetso below.
NOT TO BE MISSED. BOOK HERE