Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • SAC and DSG matric class of 1990 donate 64 dresses to Nathaniel Nyaluza for matric farewell
  • Children in the Eastern Cape are not being fed enough at school
  • I-Amazwi isindleke umsitho wokubhiyozela usuku lokungamafa namagugu
  • ‘Oh, the water came today’
  • Eluxolweni Child Youth Care Centre showcases young talent
  • Imvuselelo
  • Local mom wants urgent liver transplant for toddler
  • Explore Makhanda’s African Cuisine
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Cue»Flame in the Snow: Letters of love 
Cue

Flame in the Snow: Letters of love 

Cue 2023By Cue 2023June 30, 2023Updated:July 1, 2023No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Cara Roberts plays the part of Ingrid Jonker, the outspoken poet, mother and lover, caught up in a written love affair with André Brink. Photographed by Jacobus van Heerden

By Keren Banza 

A burning love fated to be choked by the harsh coldness of reality. Flame in the Snow is a theatre production of selective correspondences between South African poet Ingrid Jonker and writer André Brink. 

In 2014, Brink offered never-before-seen letters between himself and Jonker for publication. They were released as a book in their original Afrikaans version and later translated into English. The Bryan Hiles-directed production, which takes its name from the English book title, is a theatrical reading of the letters, and features Cara Roberts as Jonker and Mpilo Nzimande as Brink. 

The scene is set with Jonker in Cape Town and Brink in Makhanda. On stage, a room divider is used to reflect this distance. The actors do well to capture the intensity of the lover’s emotions, but the room divider blocks the chemistry, and perhaps this is a deliberate choice as distance – both literal and ultimately emotional – is what contributes to their split. A few scenes of Jonker reacting to Brink’s declaration of love while he read his letter might have been more impactful. Instead, we give attention to whoever the light is on while keeping the other in the darkness. 

Through the production’s careful selection of letters, we are presented with a narrative timeline of events in their relationship. We don’t see Brink’s visits to Cape Town, for example, or when his wife confronts him about his affair. Rather, we hear of the repercussions of these events. From what is both said and left unspoken, we piece together Jonker and Brink’s initial passion and the issues that ultimately led to the demise of their relationship. Words both anchor and animate the story, and in this way, the performance requires an attentive audience.  

The play attempts to capture Jonker in all of her complexity, but the letters provide only fragments of her life, her rich interiority. Jonker was more than just a lover. She was a gifted poet, a single divorced mother and a woman who had much to say in a generation that wasn’t ready to hear it. Still, throughout the production, there are vivid glimpses of this remarkable woman, right up to her tragic end.  

Flame in the Snow is where lovers of literature get to relish in theatre. It requires you to be fully present, read between the lines and reflect on the impact of each sentence. Hang onto every word, and a compelling and tragic love story will reveal itself.

Flame in the Snow is on at Victoria Theatre until 1 July. 

Renowned Afrikaans writer, André Brink, is played by Mpilo Nzimande in Flame in the Snow. Photographed by Jacobus van Heerden
Previous ArticleWhat’s On 29 June – 6 July
Next Article Droomwerk is harde werk
Cue 2023

    Comments are closed.

    Tweets by Grocotts
    Newsletter



    Listen

    The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

    Humans of Makhanda

    Humans of Makhanda

    Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

    © 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.