BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
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RHODESIA, 1970. The waspish Lady L (Suzanna Hamilton) prepares for her upcoming birthday party in the baneful presence of her opportunistic offspring (Theo Bamber and Lucy Lowe), who have arrived to carve out their portions of their late father’s estate.
On the other side of the estate, servant Kapenie (Mensah Bediako) receives his grandson George (Joseph Rowe) and refuses his offer of a new life in Washington, citing simply: “Madam needs me.”
It’s an all-too-familiar structure steeped in romantic tropes about race and privilege in colonial Africa, where servitude is mistaken for loyalty and condescension for sentiment — the loyal black servant persists in his devotion to the cantankerous lady of the house who, in a sudden rush of feeling, invites him to dance and offers him a portion of the estate.
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