South African play set in Mauritius heads to the UK – ILE

A brilliant South African play – ÎLE – which won a Gold ovation award at SA’s National Arts Festival last year, is about to hit UK shores. The comedic coming-of-age story, which has been a great success on the SA theatre scene, will be at Riverside in London next week, as part of their BiteSize Fest, and will be at the world famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August!

This coming-of-age story follows an 18-year-old girl who visits her ancestral home, Mauritius, a popular tourist spot with a tumultuous colonial history. It’s written and performed by award-winning young theatre maker Sophie Joans who grew up in Cape Town after her grandparents escaped the white elite of Mauritius, and settled in South Africa.

According to the press release, the French founded a sugar industry in Mauritius “on the backs of slave labour. They got rich, stayed Catholic, and ‘kept it in the family’ (both the money, and the genes).”

Sophie grew up grappling with the source of the generational rage that ran through her maternal line. At 18, she set off to return to the island to explore her roots (and escape her mother!) where it gets all too real as she uncovers strange characters: formidable matriarchs, cousins a little too close for comfort, and charred skeletons in the closet. She soon realises that below the surface of paradise, a volcano is still waiting to erupt.

Île (which means ‘island’ in French), is a captivating, funny and heartwarming story about mothers, daughters, dodo birds and lava lamps, set on the tropical island of Mauritius.

After its debut at South Africa’s Fringe Festival in 2022, where Île won Gold, Sophie Joans went on to be nominated for some top South African accolades (Best Actress at Woordfees 2022 and a prestigious Fleur de Cap for Best Performance in a One-person Show).

Sophie’s experience as a stand-up comedian bleeds into the style of storytelling in Île. The play also employs explosive physical theatre, a characteristic style of South African comedy legend and director of Île, Rob van Vuuren. An award-winning actor and stand-up comedian, Rob’s latest character, Namaste Bae has garnered international acclaim as the viral TikTok star satirising the wellness industry.

Dave Mann from The Critter calls it a “hell of a play” with superb writing that keeps it fast and funny. The Cape Robyn says “Île is a deliciously captivating piece of theatre” that is “uplifting, funny, and inspiring” while Siobhan Cassidy from Call Off The Search says: “The writing is slick and funny, with a very satisfying circularity to all the plots and subplots. Unlike the family represented on stage in all its messy intertwined madness, we are left thinking that everything somehow makes sense and there are no loose ends.”

Catch Île at Riverside Studios (two shows), before it heads to the EdFringe for a full run at Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 3.

EVENT DETAILS

Title: Île
Dates: 4 & 5 July | 20:30
Running time: 60 minutes
Address: Riverside Studios, Studio 3
101 Queen Caroline St, London W6 9BN, United Kingdom
Tickets available at:
London: https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/ile-74100/