Author Archives

Robyn Sassen

A freelance arts writer since 1998, I fell in love with the theatre as a toddler, proved rubbish as a ballerina: my starring role was as Mrs Pussy in Noddy as a seven-year-old, and earned my stripes as an academic in Fine Arts and Art History, in subsequent years. I write for a range of online and print publications, including the Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian and artslink.co.za and was formerly the arts editor of the SA Jewish Report, a weekly newspaper with which I was associated for 16 years. I am currently a Research Associate at Wits University. This blog promises you new stories every week, be they reviews, profiles, news stories or features.

Madness takes control!

IT ALL BEGINS with a bit of masked and gloved mystique that gets even the littlest of littlies focused on the stage. That is the kind of magical lure you will experience in this version of Alice in Wonderland, that graces the stage this season. And it’s a […]

Hold my hand, you’re dying

“YOU! MURDEROUS WITCH!” Captain Claassen is less than impressed with Salacia when first he encounters her, in episode 16 of Martyn le Roux’s serialised podcast, Die Soutwaterheks which you can find here. Presenting a mix of the complexity of guilt, loss and trauma, it’s a gripping episode. With […]

We are stardust, we are misguided

SALACIA AND OUR friends explore the notion of everything, from Plato to Nazism, with reference to a lot of historical and scientific experiments and a nod to conspiracy theorists tossed into the mix, in episode 15 of Martyn le Roux’s serialised podcast, Die Soutwaterheks which you can find […]

To be, above all, decent

WHAT DOES IT mean to be a hero? Ask British novelist Lee Child and he will present the classic loner, a man with no ties who fixes the world and goes back to wherever he came from once the baddies are vanquished. Another English professional, stockbroker, Sir Nicholas […]

A sound to shatter glass

ENERGY HAS A foreverness that completely transcends humanity’s knowledge, explains Salacia, the mermaid, in episode 14 of Martyn le Roux’s serialised podcast, Die Soutwaterheks, which you can find here. She gets Frans and his sea buddies to remember the lessons of Sunday School and understand them differently, as […]