*Special Opening Night Event*

Join us for the Standard Bank GOLD ovation and Naledi Award-winning production of TAU and stay behind for a panel discussion with the writers and creators of the award-winning film, Inxeba (The Wound).

About Tau:

The play is set in the Free State where cultural norms and traditional practices still play an important  part in the community. Tau lives in a conflict of modern and traditional norms deeply rooted in African history and mythology. His father is a traditionalist and a community elder and his mother  a neo traditionalist with the ability to be swayed. Once confronted with this conflict, he embarks on a journey of discovering his manhood, himself and his Sesotho culture.

The story deals with sensitive cultural issues that have remained unchanged for centuries and are difficult to question. It also deals with the taboo issue of homosexuality in the midst of a sacred “manly” ceremony. The play does not wish to shun the cultural beliefs of its audiences, but wishes to ask people to look to themselves and whether they are abusing the power rooted in customs on the grounds of ignorance or as a calculated choice…LEROTHODI !!

Does culture protect one’s identity or does one’s identity protect culture? The story of a boy who is turning with time, like a wheel where change and time are the only constant variables. Tau goes through himself as he goes through the world, trying to understand the world, his world. Finding and losing himself in his friends, family and village. How can you be like others when you are so different that it scares you? What is it that really defines a man? 

About Inxeba:

Xolani, a lonely factory worker, joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.

The Wound premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and was the winner for Best Director and Best Actor at the Durban International Film Festival 2017. The film is South Africa's entry to the 2018 Academy Awards for best foreign film.

For more information about the film, visit their website.

Audience Responses

Lerothodi!

Thank You very much for the opportunity to share the stage with the amazing team of Tau.

Lerothodi!