By BRUCE DENNILL
The Graduation Of K-C / Directed by Campbell Meas and Greg Homann / Barney Simon Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg
There are a number of layers of meaningful and complex subject matter under the microscope in The Graduation Of K-C, a new play by Greg Homann. Culture – the version that combines history and beliefs and events lived through – is at the centre of everything on stage, with each character seeing their overlapping experiences through lenses that often, unavoidably, filter out some of the perspectives of the other members of their family.
The father (Lungi Pinda) is a Xhosa man, from the tribe of Nelson Mandela, whose warriors bravely fought British colonists on the Eastern Cape frontier. The mother (Julie-Anne McDowell) is from Northern Ireland, where her activist parents bravely fought British colonists in Belfast and Derry. Ditto her sister (Morna Regan), who has been consigned to a wheelchair for her trouble. The couple’s daughter, K-C (Ketsia Velaphi) is a mix of her parents in a number of ways, but without the more clearly defined identity they can each draw from their immediate past. Dad’s career is being helped by the results of the Struggle. Mom’s psyche and Aunt Eileen’s body are permanently damaged by the Troubles. And K-C is graduating university as the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall movements are at their height, making her question the validity and value of the degree she’s studied for and of the privilege of being allowed to do so.
All of this makes for an outline that looks well designed to examine, through drama, issues of race, politics and generational identity, even if the casting is right on the nose – Pinda is Xhosa and both McDowell and Regan were born and raised in Northern Ireland! The physical space – the Market has long been the South African epicentre of struggle theatre – completes the set-up and establishment of credentials.
Within this framework, however, what unfolds is less a narrative and more extended exposition, useful to some degree for explaining the nuances of the political context that is making K-C by turns furious and desperate, but not for unpacking aspects of the characters’ personalities and actions to a relatable degree. Velaphi, particularly given her relative lack of professional experience, exhibits extraordinary intensity and passion in her performance, while McDowell’s brittle, bruised wife, mother and sister, continually dosing herself with whiskey, is arguably the most interesting presence on stage.
The play has a long running time – around two hours plus an interval – meaning there are a number of long periods of declamatory dialogue, important for communicating the piece’s messages around how political and human rights struggles extend across generations, changing shape and definition but never going away. But all that information is not necessarily convincing – K-C builds arguments around “her truth” (as opposed to objective reality) as the basis for her decisions and actions, some of which are hurtful and many of which appear naïve, and there is no suggestion of any consequence for the pain she causes in her already troubled family. That is not to say that the dynamics in her home are her fault – the adults must, of course, take responsibilities for their actions too, but for all K-C’s blazing, brash belief in her cause, it is smaller subplots including the sisters’ upbringing in Derry that excite the imagination more.
K-C may be graduating, but she and her family could stand – if they are willing – to still learn much more. And to allow each other to teach each other.