Albie Sachs's story of survival and “soft vengeance” comes to the Baxter in October

A one-person play tracing the life of constitutional architect and human rights activist Albie Sachs will run at the Baxter Studio in Cape Town from 13 to 31 October, with performances at 20:00 and Saturday matinees at 15:00.

Albie Sachs: Fathers, Sons and Soft Vengeance, written by Gail Louw and directed by Fiona Ramsay, stars Graham Hopkins as Sachs. The play follows his lifelong commitment to justice, from joining anti-apartheid marches at 17, through exile, to the 1988 car-bomb attack by apartheid-era security forces in Mozambique that cost him an arm and the sight in one eye.

It centres on Sachs's philosophy of “soft vengeance” – the idea that building a free, democratic and just South Africa is itself a victory over oppression, in place of bitter retribution – and explores his relationships with his own father, Solly Sachs, and his youngest son, Oliver, born later in Sachs's life.

Ramsay said staging Sachs's life offered rich emotional and dramatic terrain, spanning resistance, loss, recovery and fatherhood, and that the production aimed to capture not only what happened to him but who he is.

She added that audiences would leave feeling transformed by the experience, not simply better informed.

The production follows a successful run earlier this year at Theatre on the Square in Sandton, where it drew favourable reviews.

Ramsay, a multi-award-winning performer, has previously appeared at the Baxter in Blonde Poison and The Opera Singer, and worked with Hopkins on Hansard, Twelfth Night and My Fair Lady.

The creative team includes Oliver Hauser on lighting, Dean Pitman on sound and James Dee, with set design by Ramsay and Hopkins. The production is presented by Troupe Theatre Company and the Baxter Theatre, in association with Daphne Kuhn.

Bookings are through Webtickets and Pick n Pay stores.