THE PUMP ROOM – DRAMA ABOUT POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

Force creates pressure and pressure creates counter- pressure. The result? A blowout. The Pump Room is a drama about post Apartheid South Africa dealing with 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.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

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)

Ahttps://offthewallplays.com/2015/11/15/finding-my-root-south-african-monologue/ges 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

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Cost is $6 for this previously performed digital play script

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about “The Pump Room“

Copyright Allan Kolski Horwitz 2009

Like this play? Other political and South African plays for you to get your teeth into:

Finding my Root – A South African female monologue
The Chronicles of Jack – a story about growing up and becoming a man in a strange new city
People’s War – drama about the start of the covid 19 pandemic in Wuhan, China