Writer: Rajesh Gopie
Director: Clare Stopford
In the history of apartheid South Africa, the miseries inflicted upon the country’s Asian population are often underreported. Brought over to work in sugar cane fields, many Indian workers stayed and settled in the country before racism was enshrined in law in the 1940s.
Such is the family at the heart of Out of Bounds, Rajesh Gopie’s history of a multigenerational family that, at the play’s start, is all living under one roof. Narrated from the perspective of Lall, a young boy who is so ashamed of his family’s township home that he tells school friends and teachers that he lives just down the road in a much more affluent neighbourhood, we meet what effectively is a small community packed into a few rooms.
Jason Sardinha plays not only Lall but all 30 other characters, transitioning between a multiplicity of personas within each scene. With just a few lines and varying deportment, each character is sharply defined and recognisable, which is no mean feat. The accomplishment is aided by Gopie’s writing, in which observations are presented not only from Lall’s point of view but also within the context of his age. Early scenes involve a maid whom he adores, and later accidentally sees having sex with one of his uncles. His lack of comprehension of what is going on shrouds the event in a haze, clouding whether what he has witnessed is consensual.
As Lall grows up, he becomes more and more aware of the divisions within South African society, culminating in a riot in which the family home is burnt down and three branches of the family are broken up to live in different parts of the country. The depiction of Lall’s life in Phoenix, a poor township, is contrasted with that of his richer uncle and aunt in the affluent Durban suburb of Reservoir Hills.
Mostly, the backdrop of racial tensions fades away in favour of the domestic dramas within Lall’s immediate circle: from his distant relationship with his father to his affectionate relationship with his Reservoir Hills cousin, a stereotypically camp artistic young man who rejects the conventional life his parents have laid out. The carefree joy is contrasted effectively with the gruff patriarchal view of masculinity as exhibited by Lall’s father, uncles and neighbours. It’s not a particularly original contrast, but Gopie’s writing and, in particular, Sardinha’s performances elicit moments of real clarity.
One would perhaps hope for a stronger narrative through line, though. Gopie deals with so many plot strands that its ending, with a resolution of sorts for Lall’s complex feelings towards his father, feels somewhat detached from what has gone before. But as a sweeping epic of multigenerational family life, Out of Bounds delivers thanks to Sardinha’s accomplished character work.
Continues until 2 August 2025
