UP Drama is proud to have created THE MERENSKY PROJECT, directed by Meyer Taub, for the Woordpoort Festival, which runs parallel with Krêkvars. The show will also be performed in Johannesburg.

THE MERENSKY PROJECT will take as one of its interpretative departure points the historical figure of Dr Hans Merensky (1871-1952) who was one of the key pioneers in the South African mining industry and a philanthropist whose contributions include the Merensky Library on the campus of the University of Pretoria (now the Eduardo Villa Museum) and the heritage monuments on the Main St Mining Mall in central Johannesburg. Merensky was as much an enigma as he was a hard-working industrialist, prospector and geologist – one could say a man of his time. However, this is only the starting point in the play’s narrative. On a farm, somewhere near Tzaneen, are two young women, who play at being landowners- but are they really playing? A stranger arrives. He has crossed a large river from ‘elsewhere’. And with his arrival on the farm he brings a secret of hidden treasure. But is this man really a stranger? And will his secret rather bring misery than promises of wealth and freedom?

Tickets for The Merensky Project are available from Computicket or at the door - R30. Venue: Eduardo Villa Museum. Times: 21 Sept @ 19h00; 22 Sept @ 13h00, 23 September @ 13h00; 24 Sept @ 19h00; and 25 Sept @ 14h00.

For more information contact Nompilo:
Tel: +27-12-420 3974
Fax: +27-12-420 4918
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.up.ac.za