AND THE GIRLS IN THEIR SUNDAY DRESSES. By Zakes Mda. Directed by Mdu Kweyama and performed by Awethu Hleli and Tamzin Daniels. Baxter Theatre Studio.
MEGAN CHORITZ reviews
I walked away from the opening night of Zakes Mda’s And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses with more questions than answers. Usually, I get home and write my thoughts and feelings out, to get a postable review in as soon as possible, but last night my mind was muddy, mixed, and strangely unsettled.
This morning, I am still asking questions. Here are some of them:
The play
Why this piece? And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses was first performed in Edinburgh in 1988. It is referred to as a South African classic. But how does it arrive and land in 2026?
Two women wait outside a government building in Lesotho, hoping to be able to buy government subsidised rice. They are two very different personalities, who, while whiling away the time (at least four days), share their stories, bicker and prickle, and forge a bond. The dialogue is funny, sharp and a combination of very South African and completely universal. The Woman is played by Awethu Hleli, and she is a cleaner. The Lady played by Tamzin Daniels, is a sex worker. Both actors inhabit their contrasting roles well and I enjoyed watching them. But they are stereotypes. And they are old stereotypes, which makes them hard to sympathise with.
I questioned why the play was chosen at all.
The execution
Why this execution of this play? This is a mainstream production, albeit with a tiny cast of two. But it speaks of budget. The set is impressive. It is not agit prop. It is not a fringe production. Bespoke (beautiful) music composition fills the space. The costumes are well thought out. The entire Studio has been reconfigured to accommodate the grand set. And, so, content and context pull at opposite ends of the rope.
The huge, made-to-look-like stone walls and massive wooden door of the government building are Kafkaesque, and certainly imposing. They are also, well, expensive looking, as well as the made-to-look-like pavement and kerb. It is wonderfully grand for a play that could have been executed on a bare stage with a single chair. And there’s that push-me-pull-you contradiction again. The two-hander, in the style of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, feels like an experimental and clever exercise by the playwright, but this production is like the National Theatre got hold of it.
The staging choices
Why the staging choices? The interpretation and delivery of the piece, which feels very naturalistic, tells a different story from the highly stylised concept – waiting in a four-day long queue for state subsidised rice. Except for the funny little prologue and in between moments of movement/dance, which I didn’t really get at all.
Again, I was pulled and pushed, between feeling like the piece needed some rousing political Brechtian blast that screamed the story of its time, which never came, and being moved by the characters and their stories, which didn’t happen either.
I didn’t get it. Yes, the music, lights, performances, set, were great. Impressive. But I missed what the piece was about, and what it was trying to do.
What: And the Girls in their Sunday Dresses
Where and when: Baxter Studio from 13 February to 7 March 2026 at 8pm with Saturday matinees at 3pm
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
