a w a r e n e s s

Foto Flick of the day: “Ma’der desert – Morocco” [By http://chromaphobia.deviantart.com/]

This photograph reminds me of Sharbat Gulav, the mysterious Afghani girl with the unforgettable, green eyes who graced the cover of National Geographic a few years back.

Speaking on Sharbat Gulav, and being that Halloween just passed….

HAHAHAHAHA…I don’t even know who this person is but this is just GREAT…

Eye revoir.
Chetna

I saw a play called “Groundswell” at the San Jose Repertory on the evening of Halloween with my parents. We had the best seats in the small but accommodating theatre; orchestra seating, smack-dab middle of the second row. So pretty much we could see every bead of sweat on the actors’ foreheads and the spit sputtered with every bellow.

Despite the play’s modest cast of three actors, a 1 hour 40 minute act, and minimal sound effects; the intermingling of three forlorn South African characters from very different backgrounds and pasts led to an interesting and subtly profound performance.

The play takes place in modern day, post-Apartheid South Africa, in the dining room/lobby of a cottage villa in the middle of nowhere off the beachy west coast. Although a portion of the dialogue was in Afrikaans and each of the characters came from diverse and predominant backgrounds and classes of South Africa (Kosa, Afrikaner, and South African Brit – mind you, the American actors had an impeccable impression of each of their character’s accents, in my opinion), this performance could appeal to any audience from any continent. The diamond trade business went mentioned in the play; however, its details were muted. The post-Apartheid life was a more present focus throughout the scene but every major theme entrenched in this story ultimately related back to human nature; what people do when they feel guilty, helpless, desperate, in denial, or in need of compensation or even redemption for themselves.

Every character displayed a strong yet personal impression of how they and their people should be treated in present, post-Apartheid South Africa. The surprising thing is that there was a lot of overlap…each of them felt that they should be compensated in some shape or form for their experiences in the past because of the Apartheid or the results of it, further proving that people are still trying to find their identities, roles, and responsibilities in society today.

Below is a behind-the-scenes interview with the three actors and the director. I would definitely recommend seeing “Groundswell!”

Vrede.
C