Pippa Jazmine DyerPippa Jazmine Dyer would like to perform this work for Durban audiences and is looking for funding ...
The Voice Beyond the Veil is a one-woman show written and performed by Pippa Jazmine Dyer. It was first performed for the Grahamstown Festival in 2005, directed by Lynn Marree, then tweaked and performed for the CT Festival in 2006 directed by Bronwen Howes, later performed a thoroughly rehashed version at Wits theatre in 2007 directed by Sarah Roberts.
The Voice Beyond the Veil is the true story of two lovers, Jessica and Sameer, a gentile woman of British/Irish descent and a Muslim man of Indian/Malaysian descent. They meet in Apartheid South Africa, fall in love and marry at a time when Mandela has been released. But the country is, literally, in flames with necklacing faction fighting during the final heave towards liberation. The future is unstable, the laws of Group areas Act and the Immorality Act are still intact. All they have is love and a dream of hope.
Thrown together by fate, circumstance, and a committed resistance to Apartheid they struggle to come to terms with their two colliding worlds. Jessica needs to reconcile that her name was changed to Zahira and she was converted to Islam on her wedding day without her prior knowledge or consent. She feels her life has been hijacked and struggles to reach that place inside her where, in her previous life, she was an actor and jazz and blues singer, albeit struggling.
Sameer, a brilliant, cerebral man, and activist, who by his cultural base was supposed to have been reared as an Hafiz (holy man who learns the qu'oran off by heart), needs to redefine the pressures of his new life, a child, fledgling relationship, wife who is resistant to his heritage, and the debilitating effect that Apartheid had on his life.
Both are trapped. Zahira cannot leave him easily because of the terms of Islamic Law, so she focuses on the child that she always wanted, Shamina, whom she loves. Sameer succumbs to drugs, one of the backlashes of Apartheid. A whole sub-culture of people, anaesthetized themselves from the horrific images of brutality that were part of the Apartheid daily reality with mandrax, cocaine, dope, and, in Sameer's case - finally heroin.
Set in a transformational time in South African political history, when Mandela was released, rose to power and was inaugurated as the first democratic president, the healing of their relationship is reflected almost in the healing of the country. The two families only meeting for the first time, one year after liberation when their child is turning 3 years old!
Sameer eventually cleans up his life and acknowledges his addiction and subsequently rehabilitates himself. She never does. Until 9/11 ...
Confused and beaten by life, the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq, reflective of their war-torn relationship evoke further challenges for Zahira. Believing herself to be mad and having lost the plot, in a moment of lucidity, she questions the silence of the women and realizes that she has become one of them. Through her own renaissance she finds the strength to make peace with her past. 'Reclaiming self' becomes her mission and her reclaimed voice. Living between two worlds, she inhabits a place that is both her captor and her lucky charm, her repressor and finally her salvation. It is a story of fear and prejudice, forgiveness and humility. Ultimately there is retribution but not without the cost of time, pain, and deep resources of understanding.
“A deep and heart-felt story, it is one that could resonate with many South Africans and finally put to rest a traumatic time in our past history as well as give hope to a future where the East and the West are integrated,” says Dyer. “Even if these two forces are at opposing places in their ideology, The Voice Beyond the Veil could go a long way towards opening the communication and understanding between them. It is a brave production. It is challenging. And needless to say it is controversial ...”
Dyer is seeking funding for a Durban staging of The Voice Beyond the Veil, as well as development funds for the film version. Anyone interested in assisting the financing of this project should call Pippa Jazmine Dyer on 083 303 7433
Posts
