Play about SA firefighters wins award at Grahamstown National Arts Festival
Fire House is a story about South Africa’s unsung heroes.
With the tragic fires of Imizamo Yethu and more recently, Knysna, fresh in our minds, this play touches on the human side of fires and offers the audience a glimpse into some of the camaraderie and brotherhood shared by firefighters.
Whilst the play is ultimately for entertainment, it raises some burning questions, and the audience is left thinking about these long after Fire House has finished. There is a national crisis that is highlighted by the play, and the actors, Katlego Letsholonyana, Ryan Dittmann and Tebogo Machaba, so brilliantly portray the lives of three firefighters.
Superbly written and directed by Kirsten Harris, the play is actually about so much more than fires: it is about people, and about housing crises, and about silent politicians and about the poor and about corruption. It tells a story about where our country is going so very wrong.
The play also explores the danger and unpredictability of firefighting, casting light on how difficult it is for firefighters to work when certain resources are limited or faulty.
The play has a political edge to it, too, as the cast questions where the politicians are when real fires are being fought; there’s even a commentary about Zuma’s abuse of South Africa.
Read: Cost of Cape Storms and Knysna fires ‘likely to exceed R4bn’ – Cape Chamber
Performed at the perfect time in our country’s current political atmosphere, and following the devastating fires of this year, it’s no wonder Fire House won an Ovation Award at #NAF17 for being a gritty, funny and politically sharp-edged piece of theatre.
The Grahamstown National Arts Festival runs until Sunday, 9 July.
Read: South African Expat in the UK raises R280,000 for victims of Knysna inferno
To get involved with helping business owners of the recent #KnysnaFires, who have lost all their tools and equipment necessary to work, please go to the Knysna Fires Facebook page. All beneficiaries are uninsured and unable to work until their equipment and tools can be replaced.
