Force creates pressure and pressure creates counter- pressure. The result? A blowout.
The Pump Room is a drama about the intersection of the criminal and political worlds, the sexual and the ideological. It is a play about the South African reality of the late 1990s, but one which applies to many other societies that have experienced epochs in their history when, after a long period of oppression, a new period struggles to resolve the past and deal with fresh challenges.
The central event that drives the play is the murder of a ‘postman’ carrying drugs. Over several hours on a hot summer’s night, the consequences of this action cause a number of inter-connected people to meet in the pump room of a public swimming pool in Cape Town. These disparate characters play out the tensions and contradictions of their pasts and presents, and a complex web of relationships emerges.
It has been performed at the Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010 and the the Theatre in the District in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2011.
Author: Allan Kolski Horwitz
Genre: Drama, Protest Theatre
Type: 5 act play
Characters: 4M, 2F
Length: 90 minutes
Suitable for: Adults (language)
Ages of actors: most in 40’s, 2 in 20’s, 1 in 30s.
Level of Difficulty: 7/10 – getting the tension of protest theatre correct and maintaining it
View a sample of the script
Cost is $6 for this digital play script
Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about “The Pump Room“
Copyright Allan Kolski Horwitz 2009
