South African play revives complex stories of women in apartheid era

South African actor and playwright Mpume Mthombeni in the play Isidlamlilo on July 17, 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa [Courtesy of Val Adamson/Empatheatre]

Johannesburg, South Africa – This August, Isidlamlilo (The Fire Eater), a play about the life of a female apartheid-era assassin in South Africa, goes on the road across Europe.

But on July 19, it premiered in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, by its writers, award-winning South African playwrights Neil Coppen and Mpume Mthombeni of Empatheatre company, based in Durban in the Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN) province.