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Rajesh Gopie in Out of Bounds, his insightful iconic one hander comedy about grappling with being |an a South African Indian living under apartheid.<\/p>\n
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It is not a story about apartheid or the politics of the time, but about things personal. It is a tale of human relationships impacted by the political system which infused everything \u2013 what we ate, how we spoke, and what we thought. <\/p>\n
These are the words of Durban actor and playwright Rajesh Gopie, who is back in town for another season of his acclaimed play, Out of Bounds<\/em>, a classic Durban story of rite of passage. <\/p>\n It is booked in at the kraal-shaped iZulu Theatre at Sibaya Casino, near Umhlanga, from Tuesday to Sunday next week. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is a father-son dilemma set against the background of a South Africa in transition,\u201d says Gopie. <\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it is a one-man show, it is far removed from usual stand-up fare. It is a marriage of humour, craft, art and storytelling.\u201d <\/p>\n He goes on to label it \u201can important Durban breyani\u201d, adding that \u201cit is not a play by Indians for Indians, it is a play about South Africa for South Africans\u201d. <\/p>\n Gopie explains that the interpersonal dynamics between men in a close-knit community is not often explored on stage. <\/p>\n \u201cMen grow up holding onto their emotions. Even when it is painfully sore, they hold on. This gets acted out in different ways and can be seen in instances of infidelity, violence, conflict and alcoholism,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Out of Bounds<\/em> refers geographically, physically and emotionally to literally being out of bounds \u2013 tasting what is beyond yourself. <\/p>\n Written by Gopie and directed by American director Tina Johnson, the play premiered at the Market Theatre in Joburg and then played the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, in 1999. <\/p>\n Out of Bounds <\/em>put Gopie on the national and international map. <\/p>\n \u201c\u201dI was an unemployed, unknown actor before Out of Bounds <\/em>placed me firmly in the mainstream and afforded me a national identity. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is testimony to Tina\u2019s belief in me and love for this country that made everything possible. I never thought that a decade later I would be where I am.\u201d <\/p>\n Gopie has toured extensively with Out of Bounds<\/em> and has played to some great global luminaries. Dame Maggie Smith approached him after a performance in Edinburgh in 2003 and heaped praise on him, as did Nadine Gordimer and Dame Janet Suzman. <\/p>\n Gordimer so loved the production that she arranged for a private viewing for then-president Nelson Mandela. <\/p>\n Rajesh\u2019s performance for Mandela is one of the highlights of his career. That Madiba sang his praises is hugely meaningful to him. Mandela publicly called it: \u201cA deeply moving and powerful theatre experience.\u201d <\/p>\n Gopie continued his collaboration with Johnson with the inaugural season of The Coolie Odyssey<\/em> (2002) for the main programme of the Grahamstown festival. It brought to mainstream theatre a story of Indian immigration to South Africa. <\/p>\n The production was restaged under the direction of Heinrich Reisenhofer for Durban\u2019s Playhouse Company in 2005. <\/p>\n Gopie himself redirected the production to mark the 150th commemorations of the arrivals of Indian settlers to KwaZulu-Natal. <\/p>\n The Coolie Odyssey<\/em> has been staged twice in Durban, at Joburg\u2019s Market Theatre, in Grahamstown, in Pietermaritzburg, in Bombay and also in Delhi and Calcutta. <\/p>\n As well as creating his own works, Gopie has performed in a myriad theatre productions, movies and TV dramas. <\/p>\n Soaps <\/p>\n Gopie has worked on TV in soaps and dramas such as Generations, Scandals and Zero Tolerance.<\/em> He has worked on eight feature films, including playing the bookie in Hansie, <\/em>and appearing in Shake Hands With the Devil<\/em> by director Roger Spottiswoode (who directed the 007 film Tomorrow Never Dies<\/em>), shot in Rwanda. <\/p>\n Gopie also enjoys teaching and has lectured and taught widely \u2013 including seasons at the Whittier College, as artistic director in residence in Los Angeles; running workshops and lecturing for UK Arts International at various high schools and colleges in the UK; and lecturing across India, from Bombay to Delhi, for the National School of Drama. <\/p>\n Despite travelling extensively, he calls Durban home. <\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in a happy Durban family at Munshi\u2019s Corner in \u2018the \u2018states\u2019 (Clare Estate),\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n The eldest of three children, he matriculated in 1989 from Clare Hill Secondary, then worked with Alfred Hinkel at the Jazzart dance theatre in Cape Town in 1990. <\/p>\n He studied stagecraft at the then-Technikon Natal for two years, and English history and drama at the University of Durban-Westville, graduating in 1996. <\/p>\n He is hugely excited to be working on Out of Bounds<\/em> again \u2013 13 years after its first season. <\/p>\n \u201cIt tells everybody\u2019s story and feeds into families\u2019 obsession with families,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Tickets for Out of Bounds<\/em> are available at Computicket outlets and at Sibaya Casino\u2019s box-office. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" . Rajesh Gopie in Out of Bounds, his insightful iconic one hander comedy about grappling with being |an a South African Indian living under apartheid. It is not a story about apartheid or the politics of the time, but about things personal. It is a tale of human relationships impacted by the political system which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-9704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}