On Thursday, 3 October, a test audience witnessed a staged reading of the upcoming play this bra’s a psycho, written and directed by Zubayr Charles, a UCT master’s in creative writing graduate. The performance was part of Artscape and Suidoosterfees’s New Voices programme for upcoming scriptwriters, presented in collaboration with The City of Cape Town, NATi and the Jakes Gerwel Foundation. this bra’s a psycho is a psychological and crime investigative thriller that explores the effects of sexual trauma, self-discovery and the connections built through online dating.
this bra’s a psycho tells the story of The Bra, who, after waking up delirious in an unknown apartment, grapples with the trauma of being sexually assaulted. As the narrative unfolds, The Bra attempts to heal from this trauma by having various encounters with men that he meets on dating apps. Despite his efforts to prove to himself that building a meaningful connection and falling in love is still possible, The Bra gets triggered unexpectedly and kills his first victim. A killing spree ensues, during which his twisted mind seeks vengeance to cope with his own abuse. Blinded by rage and hurt, The Bra fails to realise that he is being followed and is the main suspect of an undercover police investigation.
Charles’s exploration of the crime thriller genre on stage was nothing short of fascinating. Without context of the play, The Bra’s emotive opening monologue suggests that one is about to watch an emotional unpacking and coming-of-age story of a seemingly innocent coloured queer man, effectively situated in a South African context. Already, there is a lot to work with. Charles has, however, perfectly set up the scene for many unexpected twists and turns beyond the already interesting emotional arc and at no point did the audience know what was coming next. Once it had been established that The Bra is on a killing spree, the symbolic depictions of each victim’s murder, as well as the broad variation in character and setting for each victim, kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Justice was brought to the crime thriller genre, with its unpredictability and suspense. The audience was not spoon-fed The Bra’s thoughts and reflections, but rather shown through action and dialogue how he becomes progressively more disturbed and violent. That is of course before he falls in love with what was supposed to be his next victim.
The minimalist staging of this bra’s a psycho proves that a good storyline, paired with an excellent director, does not need elaborate decor or props to paint a picture. The audience’s imagination was effectively assisted throughout the many swift scene changes cleverly staged by writer Zubayr Charles, playing the role of director as well. The audience travelled with The Bra, both emotionally and physically. Transitions were supported by witty and quirky feminine pop soundtracks that all contained the word boy, met with colourful lighting. Not only did this serve as an intentionally jarring juxtaposition to the gruesome murders happening on stage, depicting The Bra’s dissociation from the seriousness of the matter, but also further contextualised the piece into a queer setting, where dating culture and its norms differ from those in the heteronormative world.
Despite the text containing many characters essential to the storyline, Charles has succeeded in effectively writing and staging it as a two-hander. Its success can also be attributed to the excellence of the actors. James Stoffberg plays the titular character of The Bra, whereas Anzio September plays Policeman and the multiple characters that The Bra dates and ultimately murders. Stoffberg succeeds in becoming his increasingly sociopathic character, who moves further away from the broken individual shown in the exposition of the play. That is up until he falls for the Policeman, who gradually causes his softspoken humanness to slip through the twisted cracks of his serial killer identity. On the other hand, September has not only done an excellent job at playing the seemingly emphatic Policeman but has also outdone himself in tackling the challenge of portraying all The Bra’s other victims with impressive contrast and range. Down to the victims’ reaction to their sometimes-brutal murders, which demands a deep delve into the actor’s own psyche to portray believably, creating a contrasting effect. This, together with the two actors’ chemistry and ensemble, is especially impressive given that the team had only two days to portray the truth of these characters: the first being used for text analysis and the second for staging. It was easy to forget that the two were reading from a text in hand.
Charles comments on working with James Stoffberg and Anzio September, “I wrote this play envisioning both James and Anzio playing the leads. Once the script was finished, it was my mission to get them both on board for this crazy concept.” After Charles and September’s initial work together on Please, don’t call me moffie for the 2023 Teksmark Festival, September made a comment that stuck with Zubayr: “[Anzio] said that we are both on our way to becoming creative muses – which is the most beautiful comment any actor has mentioned to me.” Charles also fondly recalls his first time witnessing Stoffberg’s acting abilities at a Soapbox Sessions open mic night in 2023, after which he vowed to himself to work with Stoffberg in the future. “In the end, I’m most honoured to have such talented performers bring this vision to life,” Charles humbly states.
Upon collecting thoughts and questions from the audience during an open discussion after the performance, the team made it clear why this bra’s a psycho should be picked up by Artscape and other theatres. Charles highlighted that, despite the popularity of the psychological thriller genre on online streaming services, there is a scarcity of these productions on South African stages. Lesser-known and younger artists also often face the challenge of the genre’s usual demand for a large budget – but you need the right director to pull it off, and Zubayr Charles definitely fits that role. In the broader sense of South Africa where the difficult topic of sexual violence tends to focus on women’s stories, a queer male perspective is also refreshing to see. Stoffberg reveals that he “found it interesting yet disturbing how relatable this story is within Cape Town and its queer nightlife scene”. September relays about the experience, “Among the three of us, it was a thrilling experience to tap into the darkness within us.” He further echoes the audience’s demand to see what this bra’s a psycho holds for the future, “I cannot wait to dive deeper, explore the characters and bring to life Zubayr’s thrilling and sexy new story.”
Cara Rossouw het haar honneursgraad in drama en teaterstudies in 2022 by die Universiteit Stellenbosch verwerf. Tydens haar studies het Cara aan talle teaterproduksies deelgeneem en verskeie rolle vertolk, insluitend dié van stemaktrise, kabaretvertolker en verhoogbestuurder. In dieselfde jaar het sy haar enkelsnit Ontken vrygestel en ook die eenvrou-kabaretvertoning Adapt or Die geskryf. Cara skep tans digitale video-inhoud vir bemarkingsdoeleindes en vryskut as sanger, liedjieskrywer, dramaturg en aktrise.
