Cast

STIX LETSEBE, a city slick black dude in his mid-to-late twenties. Streetwise, charming-when-he-wants-to-be, but as dangerous as a sharpened bicycle spoke when the chips are down.

HENRY STONE, a white country bumpkin, also in his twenties. Slow and somewhat nerdish, he is out of his depth in Jozi and flat-broke.

The action takes place in a bachelor flat in a rundown Hillbrow (Johannesburg) tower block.

The time is 1993.

Mooi Street Moves was first performed at the Great Hall, Grahamstown Festival Fringe in June 1992, with Seputla Dan Sebogodi as Stix Letsebe and Martin le Maitre as Henry Stone. The production was directed by Paul Slabolepszy (assisted by Lara Foot). This final, full-length version was first performed at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, on 27 January 1993, with the same cast. It was subsequently showcased at the Theatre der Welt festival in Munich in June 1993 and at the Glasgow Mayfest in 1994 with Zane Meas as Stix and Martin le Maitre as Henry Stone. The first American production of the play took place in September 1993 at MetroStage in Alexandria, Virginia. The production was produced and directed by Carolyn Griffin, with Doug Brown as Stix and Jeffrey Yates as Henry.

A large, sparse room. An old mattress lies on the floor. Around the room are pristine cardboard boxes, all shapes and sizes – marked Telefunken, Sanyo, Panasonic, and so on. Milk crates serve as chairs, there are pictures of Orlando Pirates on the walls. If the place resembles a squatter shack, so much the better. On lights up, we find a white man in his late twenties standing room centre. He is wearing an open shirt, slacks and well-worn shoes, and clutching to his breast a large brown paper bag with New York (or some such American logo) on it. Facing him, holding a tin plate of steaming pap, is a black man of the same age, flashily dressed. The black man silently offers the white man the food. There is no response.

STIX: Thata. [Pause.] Take it.

HENRY: It's okay.

STIX: Take it.

HENRY: It's okay.

STIX: For sure, it's okay.