‘That Boy Has No Shoes’ unveils apartheid’s painful past on Cape Town stage

Lara van Huyssteen

Cape Town – History comes alive on stage as South African artist Lara van Huyssteen brings her powerful and unflinching play, That Boy Has No Shoes, to Cape Town.

Running from 20 to 23 March 2025 at the Homecoming Centre, this immersive theatrical experience unearths the raw, untold stories of apartheid, compelling audiences to confront the past in a way they will never forget.

Following two acclaimed runs at The Camden Fringe Festival 2024 and Voila! Theatre Festival 2024 in London, That Boy Has No Shoes makes its South African debut.

This ‘moving retrospective’ introduces audiences to four inanimate artefacts — an axe, an eviction notice, a passbook, and a camera — that take centre stage to recount the horrors they witnessed during apartheid.

Through their unique perspectives, the play asks haunting questions: Who was at the Battle of Andringa Street? How does a passbook remember Sharpeville? And where are the children?

Originally conceived as a university project in London, the play reflects Van Huyssteen’s realisation of how little her peers knew about apartheid. Now based in the UK, she was driven to create a work that not only educates but emotionally resonates.

“South Africa still faces problems caused by Apartheid, so I see it as a current problem rather than a historical one, and it feels important to talk about it,” she said during an interview with Camdenist.

Blending verbatim text with narrative storytelling, this poignant production sheds light on riots, forced removals, and protests that shaped democratic South Africa.

Critics have hailed it as “compelling” and “powerful”.

Everything Theatre praised its meticulous choreography, noting that “every movement, item, and spoken word contributes to an immersive and emotional evening”.

The play takes an innovative approach by presenting history through the voices of inanimate objects – witnesses to apartheid-era events.

To heighten authenticity, Van Huyssteen collaborated with Stellenbosch University drama students, who recorded monologues for the objects, allowing their voices to be heard onstage at key moments.

While That Boy Has No Shoes is not intended as a conventional history lesson, it aims to leave audiences deeply moved.

“I wanted to create a performance that could break a heart,” Van Huyssteen said, drawing inspiration from Maya Angelou’s famous words: ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’

Beyond its artistic merit, the play carries a charitable mission. Van Huyssteen has pledged to donate all profits to purchase shoes for children at two primary schools in her hometown of George, South Africa.

With its experimental, multilingual, and immersive storytelling approach, That Boy Has No Shoes promises to be a moving theatrical experience.

Performances are scheduled for 14:30 and 19:30 daily, and tickets are expected to sell fast as audiences prepare to engage with this deeply personal and socially relevant work.

TICKETS: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1563066572

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