ON THE TOWN: They came out of Africa to perform in Dublin's Helix in Glasnevin. Duma Kumalo, who was on death row for three years, retold his story. He goes on stage at The Space in the Helix for his final performance in Dublin tonight.
Terence Zeeman and his wife, Emma, travelled from Coleraine, to attend the opening night of He Left Quietly, written by Yael Farber in collaboration with Kumalo.
South African Week @ The Space, comprising a series of talks, discussions and other dramatic readings organised around the central performance of He Left Quietly, was the brainchild of Deirdre Mulrooney, who created it with artistic director of The Space, Marie-Louise O'Donnell, and Judy Friel as consultant.
Zeeman, editor of the first and second anthology of New Namibian Plays, spoke the next day about Namibian theatre, which, he says, is "beginning to frame a sense of identity". The country, he says, "is starting to find its roots in the O'Casey sense, it is starting to take on issues and to recycle their protest. Now theatre is being used to protest against the new government."
Christina Quinlan from Kilkenny city, was also there to take part, speaking about her research work in Irish prisons with women prisoners where almost a quarter of the female population are international drug couriers, she said. Many are single mothers from South Africa, she explained.
Among the guests on opening night at The Space was John Quinn, the presenter and producer of RTÉ Radio 1's The Open Mind, who will retire this December after 27 years in broadcasting. The radio programme's annual lecture on Sunday, December 8th features Pat Donlon, former director of the National Library, on 100 years of children's books, he said. Also, A Letter to Olive, a moving half-hour radio programme in which he talks about the death of his wife - they were married for 33 years - is to be published by Townhouse in the spring.
Nick Reed, the Helix director, welcomed the guests to the new centre. He tips The Bomb-Itty of Errors, a hip-hop rap take on the Comedy of Errors to be staged in the Helix next March by a Chicago company, as likely to be a sure-fire hit on the Irish theatre scene.
But this week, he could only say "breathtaking" after seeing Duma Kumalo retell his story.