This play, written at the end of 1981 after the South African Indian Council (SAIC) elections, which it satirises, was presented in April 1982.The first performances, under the management of the Upstairs Theatre, were at the Baumann Hall and then at the Hermit Theatre in Durban. The cast and characters for these performances were as follows:
Moon Babs Pillay
Singh Charles Pillay
Patel Essop Khan
Whitely Etienne Essery
Young Man Neville Josie
Other Young Man Mohammed Alli
When the play went on tour later in the year, it was presented by the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Theatre Company, which consisted of the members of the cast and the playwright/director. Some changes to cast and characters were made for the tour. The character of the Young Man became the Young Woman and the Other Young Man became the Young Man.
Moon Babs Pillay
Singh Mohammed Alli
Patel Essop Khan
Whitely Etienne Essery
Young Woman Nasreen Moosa
Young Man Neville Josie
Moon, Singh and Patel are fixed characters. The other three, Whitely, Young Woman and Young Man are multiple characters and each plays several different roles. In general, Whitely represents the apartheid establishment, the Young Woman the anti-apartheid view-point, and Young Man, the collaborator's position.
The play was presented on an almost bare stage. The props consisted of two main pieces: 1) a freestanding wall (a single or double flat), which when turned around was a polling booth and 2) a rectangular block, used as a seat, table, podium etc. as required. A bin, hand props, chairs, etc., were brought in as needed.
I revised the play in 1991 for publication in 1992 by Asoka Theatre Publications, University of Durban-Westville.
The play was revised again in September 2000 and edited in 2008.