Fruit

FRUIT. Written and directed by Paul Noko, with Matshediso Mokoteli. At The Baxter’s Masambe Theatre until August 29. TRACEY SAUNDERS

PAUL NOKO has achieved the almost impossible task of finding hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. Fruit follows the fraught life of a young girl from early childhood through to her formative years. Her experiences are commonplace in a country ravished by violence, and without any sentimentality she exposes her life and the lives of others to the audience.14-year-old Matlakala lives in a community in Soweto. Her world and life are bound by the Nascrec Road and the road leading to Potchefstroom. A slip of a girl dressed in a floral sun dress, she sits on the stage playing with her companion – a large white plastic doll similarly dressed in a floral dress. Seemingly oblivious to the audience as they take their seats she talks with and scolds her doll. Once the house lights are dimmed she begins to create a world which will steal your heart. She doesn’t do it alone though.

Noko had entered the play into the SA National Community Theatre Association, Gauteng Province Theatre Festival at the Hillbrow Theatre in Johannesburg when it was confirmed that all entries had to have five cast members. Fruit has one actor – Mokoteli. Undeterred he added additional cast members in the form of stones.

The play went on to win awards for Best New Script, Best Actress, and the 1st runner up to Best production. The stones become members of the community, and so vivid are Mokoteli’s descriptions of each character that you wince as their lives come to an often inglorious end, and they are dropped in a bucket.