Soul Tribe Theatre Company’s production of Reze De Wet’s ‘African Gothic’ was a grim night in the theatre.

Set on a desolate rural farm in South Africa, ‘African Gothic’ follows the lives of an orphaned brother and sister who have grown up without parental supervision. They have allowed their farm to fall to ruin by rejecting reality and creating an eerie fantasy life. That is, until an officious lawyer representing their Auntie visits the farm, and threatens to force them from the farm.

‘African Gothic’ features four characters; the disturbed brother and sister, Frikkie played by Adam Stewart, Susie played By Angela Bauer, lawyer Grove played by Adam Waterlow, and Aline played by Pamela Jikiemi.

I found Angela Bauer’s performance the most impressive. Bauer was strong and confident on stage, and with a good handle on her character. Antony Waterlow portrayed his character as conservative and repressed with an apartheid bias. Pamela Jikiemi played a small but significant role as the Afro-American servant Alina. Pamela cast an ominous shadow over the stage and the ‘couple’. It’s hard to know what she really thought of their bizarre mind games.

What did the play have to say? Above all, it was about the shattering impact of disturbed family lives. Through the play the siblings enact scenes from their abused childhood. The hint becomes clearer that the kids, in their distraught state, may have done away with their parents. And since the act, their lives have steadily gone downhill, deteriorating further and further into fantasy and nightmare.

These youngsters live their lives in the past; they are in a terrible time loop with no discernible future.

Other specters haunt the play…like apartheid. The youngsters’ farm is surrounded by native Africans.

Another shadow that haunts the play is that of incest. The siblings have been incestuous from a young age and it is something that infuriated their parents.

‘African Gothic’ played the Old Fitzroy theatre.