One-woman show digs into the roots of Afrikaans identity

A solo theatre piece exploring the tangled inheritance of Afrikaans and Afrikaner identity opens at the Market Theatre's Kippies Fringe in Newtown this week, running from 10 to 13 September.

Sade in Hollandse Kombuise, presented by the Market Theatre and The Art Cave, follows Susan – an English-speaking but culturally Afrikaans woman determined to prove that Afrikaans has a legitimate place in South Africa today.

The show sees her literally dig through the artefacts of her family's past – recipes, braai tongs, old phones, doll houses – as she confronts the fuller, messier picture of where she comes from: the parts worth keeping, the parts long left unspoken, and everything in between. Along the way, a cast of family figures embodies the humour, contradictions and unresolved pain bound up in Afrikaans identity.

The work is written and performed by Naledi Award-nominated actress Christine van Hees, who first developed the piece in 2019 before it debuted on the National Arts Festival's online programme in 2020. It has since played at POPArt, picked up a Standard Bank Ovation Award, and featured at this year's Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, where it was praised for asking difficult questions of its audience.

Van Hees said she was drawn back to the piece because its themes felt more pressing than ever. “Wat is en is nie myne nie?” – what is, and isn't, mine? – remains the question at the show's centre, she said, describing the current moment as one where division can feel easier to sustain than connection, even though it serves no one in the long run.

For van Hees, engaging honestly with that history is less a choice than a responsibility – a way of taking accountability for the past while shaping a more active role in the present. She hopes the show opens up that conversation for audiences too, however uncomfortable it gets, framing the production as an invitation to look at both what deserves to be celebrated in Afrikaans culture and what still needs to be healed.

Van Hees is a familiar face at the Market Theatre, having made her stage debut there in Sophiatown in 2016. This year she featured in Amy Jephta's internationally staged production A Good House at the venue, and has also performed at the State Theatre and Vryfees. Her screen credits include Binnelanders, Lakens, and the short film Hey Jude, which she co-wrote.

Sade in Hollandse Kombuise runs at Kippies in Newtown from 10 to 13 September 2026. Tickets are R100 via Webtickets, with bulk options available through the Market Theatre box office.

Inquiries:

Bongiwe Potelwa bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za 079 967 3441 The Market Theatre Foundation http://www.markettheatre.co.za