The Playhouse Company, an agency of the Department of Arts & Culture, presented a play on Alan Paton entitled A Voice I Cannot Silence. The play was held on 13 May 2016 at the Playhouse Loft Theatre. Staff of Alan Paton Centre was invited to attend. Sherian Latif attended on behalf of the APC. The play is a winner of three 2016 Naledi Awards movingly and empathetically exams the life of Alan Paton through his own words, stories, poems and autobiographies. The characters are played by Ralph Lawson (Alan Paton) Claire Mortimer (Anne Hopkins) and Menzi Mkhwane (Sponono). The stage set by Nadia Cohen was ideal with books, papers and letters and a whisky glass buried beneath the unruly heap. Bookshelves lined with serious looking tomes, and a step down from the circular stage that brings the characters closer to the audience. The play explores weighty and often controversial issue such as Paton’s position with the Liberal party, his years as a principal at Diepkloof Reformatory, and his belief in the struggle for human rights.
