With just a small, claustrophobic set, four performers and a nimble script, Dream of the Dog, written by Craig Higginson, manages to represent in microcosm post-apartheid South Africa and the troubled history that threatens its future.
As elderly white landowner Patricia (Janet Suzman) and her mentally ill husband Richard (Bernard Kay) pack up their farm to move to the sea, former black worker Look Smart (Ariyon Bakare) appears after a 15-year absence. Decked out in a sharp suit, he is a potent emblem of modern South Africa. Yet under Look Smart's surface an uncontrollable rage bubbles and soon the facade crumbles. He's here to confront Patricia about the reason he fled decades ago: the killing of his fiancee, Grace, by Richard's savage dog.
Suzman and Bakare deliver outstanding performances, their attempts to uncover the truth from their conflicting versions of history made dramatically visual as they stumble, duck and weave across the stage. Faced with unbearable news, Suzman performs the show's finest monologue, a condemnation of fear, a "poison" doing its "dark work". Off-stage, a vicious dog barks, embodying the sense of threat that permeates this accomplished production.
