BORN-free Lindiwe Robinson’s life is turned upside down when a member of her biological family comes looking for her in the upmarket Cape Town neighbourhood home she shares with her white adoptive family.
Rainbow Scars tells the story of an 18-year-old black girl raised by a white family. She thinks like them, she talks like them but she looks like the people of the township.
Adopted by her biological mother’s employer, Ellen Robinson, when she was three years old, Lindiwe knows nothing about her biological family who live in Khayelitsha.
It was only when her cousin Sicelo Mabundla was released from prison that she comes to know about their existence.
Writer of the play Mike van Graan said the story was inspired by what was happening in our society.
“We have the rainbow nation and this is a rainbow family, where the daughter is black and there is the estranged cousin representing the people who feel like they have been forgotten,” he said.
Graan said he spent time with both parents and children that had been adopted during the time of writing the play. Rainbow Scars is a 2013 Standard Bank Ovation award winner, has received two Fleur du Cap awards and six Naledi Theatre award nominations.
Lindiwe is one of few black children who were adopted by white families when the new South Africa was established. All she knows is English, Afrikaans and she is learning French at school. Her mother Ellen shows a keen interest in the native language while her daughter does not understand a word.
Their perfect world is broken down into pieces when Sicelo tries to see his cousin. His appearance challenges Lindiwe and Ellen’s “perfect” mother-daughter bond. Not only that but this story brings to the surface the wounds of the past and the scars of a country still struggling to heal itself of its divided past.
Ellen Robinson is played by the award winning Jennifer Steyn who has acted in films such as Cry the Beloved Country, Master Harold and the Boys, Gums and Noses, to mention a few. Another wellfamiliar face is that of Mbulelo Grootboom who plays Sicelo in the play. Grootboom has featured in movies such as Claustrophobia , White Wedding and Forced Love.
Graan said they would be taking Rainbow Scars to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom later this year. The play is currently playing at the Gymnasium at Victoria Girls High School in Grahamstown. It runs until July 12. —
Rainbow adoption shown up in play
Rainbow Scars tells the story of an 18-year-old black girl raised by a white family. She thinks like them, she talks like them but she looks like the people of the township.
Adopted by her biological mother’s employer, Ellen Robinson, when she was three years old, Lindiwe knows nothing about her biological family who live in Khayelitsha.
It was only when her cousin Sicelo Mabundla was released from prison that she comes to know about their existence.
Writer of the play Mike van Graan said the story was inspired by what was happening in our society.
“We have the rainbow nation and this is a rainbow family, where the daughter is black and there is the estranged cousin representing the people who feel like they have been forgotten,” he said.
Graan said he spent time with both parents and children that had been adopted during the time of writing the play. Rainbow Scars is a 2013 Standard Bank Ovation award winner, has received two Fleur du Cap awards and six Naledi Theatre award nominations.
Lindiwe is one of few black children who were adopted by white families when the new South Africa was established. All she knows is English, Afrikaans and she is learning French at school. Her mother Ellen shows a keen interest in the native language while her daughter does not understand a word.
Their perfect world is broken down into pieces when Sicelo tries to see his cousin. His appearance challenges Lindiwe and Ellen’s “perfect” mother-daughter bond. Not only that but this story brings to the surface the wounds of the past and the scars of a country still struggling to heal itself of its divided past.
Ellen Robinson is played by the award winning Jennifer Steyn who has acted in films such as Cry the Beloved Country, Master Harold and the Boys, Gums and Noses, to mention a few. Another wellfamiliar face is that of Mbulelo Grootboom who plays Sicelo in the play. Grootboom has featured in movies such as Claustrophobia , White Wedding and Forced Love.
Graan said they would be taking Rainbow Scars to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom later this year. The play is currently playing at the Gymnasium at Victoria Girls High School in Grahamstown. It runs until July 12. —
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