Clyde Berning, Faniswa Yisa and Daneel van der Walt in Reza de Wet's Missing. Clyde Berning, Faniswa Yisa and Daneel van der Walt in Reza de Wet's Missing.
REZA DE WET’S MISSING
Director: Mdu Kweyama
Cast: Faniswa Yisa, Sonia Buqwana, Daneel van der Walt, Clyde Berning
Venue: Baxter Golden Arrow Studio
until: Saturday
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Beverley Brommert
Surreal drama marries off-beat humour in Reza de Wet’s Missing, a dark whimsy about the serial abduction of young girls when the circus comes to town – and this amalgam keeps audiences in thrall as suspense tightens by the minute.
The exposition is slow: two women, mother and daughter, prepare sacks for dung-delivery, tedious, repetitive work interrupted only by the mysterious opening of a trap-door in the roof for receipt of food per bucket.
Gradually the family’s bizarre circumstances become clear, as does the pervasive dread of evil “out there” since the circus has come to town, hence the locks and bolts in place and the curtains drawn.
Matters do not improve with the arrival of Gertie, a graceless teacher of physical training at the local school. Her apprehension of what the night ahead might bring explains her visit to a house she perceives as a safe haven.
Then along comes protection in the less-than-reassuring person of a blind policeman simply named Constable. Enigmas and tensions abound in the uneasy interaction between this ill-assorted quartet, the occasional bray of hurdy-gurdy music a reminder of the sinister circus, almost a character in its own right.
Faniswa Yisa as the domineering mother has a richly expressive facial repertoire useful for conveying her abrupt swings from tenderness to tyranny in dealing with her daughter. In the latter role, Sonia Buqwana is a credible adolescent, sulkily submissive, while radiating vulnerability.
Daneel van der Walt (Gertie) steals the show, all spinsterish coyness as she delivers clichés with ponderous conviction to lighten the moody drama’s gloom. As for Clyde Berning (Constable), his initially disconcerting presence is masterfully elaborated until the final moment when his true identity is revealed to shock spectators.
Mdu Kweyama’s direction of this strong cast does not maintain the action at an even pace, but it does generate the sense of impending disaster essential to suspenseful drama, as well as maximising this play’s ghoulish quality, true to the spirit of De Wet’s work.