SOPHIATOWN IN THE 1950s. The very name of this Johannesburg suburb in a pre-Forced Removal era still sparkles with associations of jazz and art and life and possibility even in the face of a hateful regime. Can Themba’s classic story The Suit takes place amidst the energy and pride of a black community caught in the crossfire of contrasting social values brought on by apartheid, and you can see the beautiful stage version of this work at Theatre on the Square, directed by J. Bobs Tshabalala until 16 November 2024.

It is here where you get to meet Philemon, played by Sello Maake kaNcube, who has one of South African theatre’s mellowest voices. He’s a respectable young husband with all the bits and pieces of his domestic life in place. Or so he thinks. He’s a clerk in an office in town and taking meticulous pride in his appearance and how he presents himself to the world is central to his personal ethos. Including, of course, his lovely and beloved wife Matilda (Tshireletso Nkoane).

Yes, Matilda. The trophy wife. She was plucked from her own dreams of being a singer in a jazz bar, and there are important threads of her life which were left in the air at the time of her marriage to Philemon. There’s a dalliance that has alerted the neighbours. Philemon is warned of the situation by the gossips on the train and he catches Tilly and her man in flagrante delicto. The man flees with his identity protected but his clothes left behind.

And those clothes take on all the guilt of a woman who cheated and the cruelty of a man cuckolded. It’s a terrifying play about psychological damage and an ability to hold a grudge forever, and ends as it must, in total heartbreak.

While the production doesn’t boast the gorgeous stylishness of 1950s costume and pizzazz as did a 2017 version of the work at the Market Theatre – and an interpretation of how the story came to be in the world in Khayelihle Dom Gumede’s Crepuscule – it focuses on the fact that its characters are, indeed indigent. Philemon’s working suit, complete with braces and spats and Tilly’s flaired frocks and pretty petticoats are about fitting the fashion-centric mould but not flirting lightly with it. Their context is hyper aware of being black, denigrated and poor.

In the hands of one of South African theatre’s dream teams, this is a gem of a work that brings the simplicity and levity of 1950s South African society into play. The space is unequivocally plotted. The lighting, just right. Job Kubatsi and Lebohang Motaung play roles in the work which are normally considered minor, but the manner in which they give life to the sad jokes that populated contemporary black society during the darkest days of apartheid are reminiscent of the kind of bleak humour you can find in the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky or IB Singer, where the scenario is beleaguered but crackling with the kind of laughter that is the energy that must fuel the day-to-dayness of the world.

And then there is Nkoane. She has a voice of honey which is allowed to trickle through the piece in an understated but powerful way, demonstrating the brokenness of her own personal creative dreams, and the rich inner life she mourns, in her marriage, ideal and enviable to the world though it may be.

It’s a beautiful interpretation which might have you roaring with the laugh of recognition, given the vagaries and Kafkaesque illogic of apartheid South Africa. But be aware, as the plot threads itself around the situation that Philemon creates for himself, and for Tilly, that laugh of yours might catch horribly in your throat. Tshabalala has subtly blended all the values of this story into a poignant and highly watchable work with an inimitable punch that you will feel simultaneously in your gut and your solar plexus.  

• The Suit is written by Can Themba (1963), revised for theatre by Mothobi Mutloatse and Barney Simon and directed by J. Bobs Tshabalala. Performed by Sello Maake kaNcube, Job Kubatsi, Lebohang Motaung and Tshireletso Nkoane, it features creative input by Mandla Mtshali (lighting), Wilhelm Disbergen (set) and Nkululeko ‘Muchacho’ Nkosi (sound design and composer) and is co-produced by the Sello Maake kaNcube Foundation, Pearl Maake kaNcube and Daphne Kuhn and stage managed by Regina Dube assisted by Melidah Thakadu, with technical management by Loftus Mohale assisted by Reggie Mathebe. It is onstage at Theatre on the Square in Sandton until 16 November 2024.