Reviews from the artSMart team currently in Grahamstown
at the 2015 National Arts Festival
This play is a definite must-see. (Review by Khinali Bagwandeen)
Presented on the Festival’s prestigious Arena
Programme, Full Stops on Your Face (FSOYF) was a
powerful and entrancing show that I could watch again and again. A solo
performance by the brilliant Iman Isaacs had the audience in awe.
The story is so cynical that it may appear perfectly
psychotic in the way that it gets the message across.
The story is written, directed and designed by by Penny
Youngleson. The main themes of the play
focus on gendered violence and social neglect. The unique part of this
performance for me was that it did not only focus on these issues from a local
perspective, but also represented them on an international scale.
Isaacs plays five characters ranging from different ages -
and not for a single second does this captivating actress lose the audience.
The main character is a Muslim woman who fights violence
with violence. She has no name and tells stories to the audience of child rape,
child murder and more, but the fact remains that these are stories which are
supposed to surprise us as humans but, being exposed to so much in this world
already, we find ourselves in a shocking neutral state.
This play is a definite must-see. I find that Youngleson is
an outstanding and brave writer to deal with these issues in such a willing
way, especially as these are topics that are always swept under the carpet. - Khinali Bagwandeen
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