Double bill for Women’s Month

Zoleka Helesi and Daneel van der Walt in Florence.

The double bill consists of Florence and Wine in the Wilderness.


Alice Childress was an American novelist, playwright and actress who produced and published plays for four decades.

She also became actively involved in social justice causes and formed an off-Broadway union for actors. Written in 1950, Florence, takes place in a train station waiting room in a small town in America’s south.

The play describes how Miss Whitney (Zoleka Helesi), a black mother in her late 50s, engages in conversation with a white woman, Mrs Carter (played by Daneel van der Walt).

Through their exchange, Miss Whitney realises that her daughter (Florence) — a struggling young actress — may not be able to pursue her dream in a racist and fickle world.

Wine in the Wilderness explores the experience of being a black woman and how black characters struggle to get past classicism, poverty and gender politics. An artist (Sizwesandile Mnisi) is working on a “triptych” titled Wine in the Wilderness, a series of three paintings which is meant to express his statement about black womanhood.

Tickets for the double bill at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio cost from R80 to R130 through Webtickets.