Theatre: The Stranger
9 October 2026
Die Boekklub
Orpheus, the stranger, travels to Stellenbosch where he meets a woman who has been dreaming about him and wants to marry him. Things take a dark turn when she dies and Orpheus tries to retrieve her from the underworld.
Nkosenathi Koela is a multi-instrumentalist who plays the role of Orpheus in The Stranger, a South African theatrical adaptation of the ritualistic Greek myth Orpheus, altered by Brett Bailey. PHOTO: Supplied/Woordfees
The Stranger is a South African theatrical adaptation of the greek myth of the musician Orpheus, who goes on a journey to the underworld to save his dead wife, Eurydice, but fails because he ignored an instruction to not look back. South African playwright Brett Bailey has adapted this Greek myth into a play that follows an immigrant to Stellenbosch who is later killed because he is not from there.
Performed by Nkosenathi Koela, the stranger does not utter a word; Bailey is the narrator of the story. His well-paced and soft-spoken voice commands the attention of the audience.
There are four actors on the stage. They kneel on the concrete floor with no protection to cover their knees. They are wearing ancient greek white linen in a room dimly lit by candles and many light bulbs.
The venue is called Die Boekklub, an exquisite building situated in the small town of Pniel and overlooks the Simonsberg mountain. It is not an auditorium, but a spacious library cluttered with old greek items. The audience sits on couches and chairs lined up horizontally against the walls – they are intimately close to the actors. In the background a sound resembling yoga Tingsha bells hits repeatedly. The actors start to sing and hum, while Bailey delivers the story of Orpheus.
The entire play sounds like a well-produced podcast. Bailey is narrating and other actors are making the sounds using the items on stage. The actors start to sing Inkwenkwezi (a star) as the drums get louder and louder, the atmosphere in the room changes.
Die Boekklub in Pniel where the mythical South African theatrical adaptation of the ritualistic Greek myth of Orpheus was performed as The Stranger. The audience sit on the couches and chairs across the wall as they watch the ritualistic and sophisticated play about music, love, and xenophobia. PHOTO: Kwanda Mkhonto
A woman from the audience jumps onto the stage and starts leaping while mourning and crying. Is she possessed by bad spirits? She then removes her clothes – first the top, then the skirt. What is going on?
She violently dances, and the audience is inevitably intrigued. Then Siya Mvandaba, a performer, keeps her in high spirits, clapping his hands and surrounds her in a motion following the rhythm of the loud music playing. The room is tense.
She is the stranger’s wife, and the dancing must have been the spell from his mystical music. However, on the night when they married, a snake took her life. The stranger, determined to fulfil his wife’s promise of being together forever, goes to the underworld to try and bring her back.
Although he brought music to Stellenbosch, the stranger remained an outsider to the community – he was killed by a mob. It might have been for his music, or his rituals which the locals did not appreciate, or simply because he was a stranger. That is, at least, what came to mind.
Throughout the show there are many rituals performed, using dolls, necklaces, beads, sound and incense, including impepho (a traditional South African herb believed to chase away bad spirits).
The Stranger is highly poetic and ritualistic. It is about love, immigration and a highly contested topic in South Africa, xenophobia. Although a strange performance in many ways, it is equally striking and will remain vividly in one’s memory.