Theatre: The Desert Station
3 October 2026
Bloemhof Girls High School
It has been 32 years since the birth of democracy in South Africa, but the question remains: Have we truly tasted freedom? The Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts (FEDA) winner, The Desert Station, explores how South Africa attained freedom on paper, yet the country is still waiting to experience its true promise amid persistent inequality and societal issues that linger long after the end of apartheid.
The Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts (FEDA) winner, The Desert Station, explores how South Africans should stop waiting for freedom and start moving as it is a constant journey, there is no final destination. PHOTO: Connor Leech
The production exceptionally showed the country’s current state through nuanced storytelling, rather than relying on a straightforward narrative. The Desert Station, they say, is a train station platform where people wait for a train that will take them to freedom, but never comes.
The wait evokes the feeling of anticipating a promise of change that never arrives. Performed by Redhill School’s drama students, the production urges the audience to stop waiting to be rescued and take the first step toward freedom.
When the students step off the platform and start walking on the train tracks, it becomes a physical symbol of moving. Their choreography represents pushing through life’s obstacles to find liberation, refusing to stop walking.
In one powerful moment, they all come together and start stepping on the old South African flag that existed during apartheid. Afterwards, the performers move together, showing that it takes all of us to become one and acknowledge the past and move forward together.
In another instance, one performer points at the corner to a woman who starts walking but never stops. One moment, they also point at another woman weighed down by her belongings, yet continues to endure.
Long after they step onto the tracks, the Desert Station is still standing. It acts as a reminder that while some have chosen to take the step forward, many are still stuck. They continue to wait for a freedom that will never arrive on its own.
As “born frees”, those who have never experienced the apartheid firsthand, students begin to share tales of what their parents told them about patience – yet they are slowly running out of it. While they did not live through the regime itself, they experienced its aftermath and ongoing effects. They symbolise a new generation taking charge, refusing to remain stuck on the platform.