Blackburn Cathedral hosts anti-apartheid play

12:42pm Tuesday 15th April 2008

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BLACKBURN Cathedral is to host a play which shows the true story of apartheid through performances by people who have experienced it firsthand.

The award-winning play called Cry the Beloved Country is based on a book by Alan Paton and was turned into a film starring the late Richard Harris.

It is about an an attempt at reconciliation between a black priest and a white farmer against the backdrop of apartheid-era South Africa.

The local performance features a family from South Africa, classically trained actors as well as actors from all over Africa.

Mike Wedgeworth, one of the Canons at the cathedral, said the idea was a result of the cathedral's community work. He said: "We have a project running with Westley Hall Methodist church in Blackburn where we meet alot of people who need help with things like improving English as well as advice and friendship."

Mr Wedgeworth hopes the play, which will also feature a performance from Liverpool's Philharmonic Gospel Choir, will resonate with the East Lancashire community.

He said: "It is a really moving play and it is all part of our effort to show that people of different backgrounds can neverthless live together in the same community."

John East is the asylum and refugee support worker for the cathedral and at Westley Hall. He works closely with some of the actors in the play.

He said: "The South African family have come from a place which is still quite volatile. I am sure they will want to say we have come out of a regime which has taken a lot of lives but have emerged with understanding."

He said the play, which will be performed next Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm, is very timely and added: "This year is the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King and we have already got places like Darfur and Somalia where fighting is going on."

Asylum seeker Zakariah Hassan Insingoma, who moved to Blackburn four-months-ago from Uganda, said he was pleased to be involved in the play, in which he is the narrator.

He said: "It's a really positive thing that the cathedral is doing. It is a good opportunity for me to be involved in something like this and to get across the state of things in Africa."

Asithandile Mjali, 22, who lives in the Grimshaw Park area of Blackburn, came to the town five years with her family from South Africa when her mother was offered a job as a psychiatric nurse with the NHS.

The travel consultant, who plays Gertrude, said: "It makes people more aware of what's happening in the town and that there is more to people than work and family life.

"It challenges ideas about colour and has themes that eveyone can relate to."