Jennie Reznek and Carlo Daniels in Snapped. PICTURE: Mark Wessels
Magnet Theatre’s latest production, Snapped, a companion piece to I turned away and she was gone, premieres at the Baxter Flipside, from Thursday September 16 to Saturday October 2, at 7pm, with Saturday matinees at 2pm.
The two-hander intersects two stories - that of a woman stuck in grief for her father and of a South African stretcher bearer from the Cape Corps stuck in a grave in Italy after World War II.
Loosely drawing on the journey into hell in Dante’s Inferno, the woman finds the stretcher bearer who becomes her guide into the hell of World War II, in which her father fought and into the hell of her own grief.
The title refers to “snaps” - photographs that become remnants of peoples’ lives.
Written and performed by Jennie Reznek and directed by Mark Fleishman, it also features Magnet graduates Carlo Daniels who plays the father, an unknown stretcher bearer and various other characters, and Sithyilelo Makupula, who join Jennie and Carlo onstage as “crew”.
“I wrote the play during lockdown,” says Reznek. “Although it has been brewing ever since my father died, 16 years ago. Once I had made I turned away and she was gone, which dealt with a relationship between a mother and her daughter and was in response really to my own mother’s death, the space opened up for this new work as follow on.
“In Snapped I look at a woman’s relationship with her father and the impossibilities of dealing with his death and his absence from the world. It is also an encounter with a rich archive of photographs and films that my father left in this world when he died. The play uses these photographs and images from this historical archive as an integral part of the performance.”
Performances will be limited to a capacity of 50 audience members with all Covid-19 protocols in place. Tickets cost R65 for pupils, R120 for the early bird special and R150 afterwards. There is an age restriction of 13 years.
Book through Webtickets or at Pick n Pay stores. For discounted school or group block bookings, fundraisers or charities, contact Carmen Kearns on email at carmen.kearns@uct.ac.za