Rosalind Butler’s new South African play – EXPELLED – premieres at the Baxter Theatre and transfers to The Market Theatre in 2024 – bookings are now open!
Following on from their multi-award winning, highly acclaimed production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, How Now Brown Cow is excited to bring a local, topical, powerful, new work to the South African stage.
Expelled is a play about social media’s power to connect and its power to destroy. Can a few minutes of bad judgment ruin a life?
The production has its South African Premiere in Cape Town at the Studio Theatre at The Baxter on Wednesday 7 February, running for a limited season until 2 March 2024.
It then transfers to The Market Theatre from 6 to 31 March 2024.
Tickets for both seasons are available at Webtickets. Early Bird discounts, limited to 29 December 2023 will be available via The Baxter Theatre’s platform for the Cape Town run.
Expelled is a family drama which focuses on the largely ungoverned world of social media. Alex, a Matric pupil at an elite school, gets caught up in a viral scandal and is suspended. Once shared, lives alter in seconds, what’s seen cannot be unseen. The ramifications for his family are profound.
Written by Rosalind Butler, Expelled was created out of How Now Brown Cow’s script development program, The Writers’ Collective during lockdown in 2021. Directed by Craig Freimond, the cast features Charmaine Weir-Smith and Antony Coleman alongside Nicolas Hattingh. Designs for the production are by Kieran McGregor and Daniel Rutland Manners.
“The topicality of Expelled immediately appealed to How Now Brown Cow and we are proud to have nurtured it’s development through The Writers’ Collective,” says Julie-Anne McDowell, founder of and producer at How Now Brown Cow. “It is a pertinent play for our social media obsessed world, and we believe it’s critical impact will resonate loudly for years to come. We all need to witness this valuable story.”
The Cape Town season will play Tuesday to Saturday at 20h00 with matinee performances at 15h00 on Saturdays. There will also be additional schools’ performances at 11h00 on Tuesdays during the run. The season must close on Saturday 2 March 2024 – with no option to extend. The production then transfers to Johannesburg’s Market Theatre where it will play in the Mannie Manim Theatre from Wednesday 6 March 2024.
Performances will take place Wednesday to Saturday during the season with evening performances at 19h00 and matinee performances on Saturdays at 15h00 and Sunday performances at 15h00. There will also be additional schools’ performances at 13h00 on Thursdays during the run.
Age advisory: No under 12’s
Tickets are also available via Webtickets with Early Bird discounts, limited to 29 December 2023, available via The Market Theatre platforms.
This production is a must see for all high school learners who make use of social media, and for their parents wading through the minefield – and to this end significant school learner discounts will be on offer via Jeff Brooker on schools@jbpro.co.za at R160 per ticket.