Description Durban Dialogues, Then and Now by Ashwin Singh Follow up collection of plays from award-winning South African playwright Ideal for schools, colleges and theatre companies unafraid of gritty drama To coincide with a talk by the author at Nehru Centre, London Durban Dialogues, Then and Now is a follow up anthology of three hard-hitting plays to Singh’s successful drama anthology Durban Dialogues, Indian Voice (2013) which is now studied internationally. The plays selected, namely Swing, Shooting and Into the Grey cover topics such as discrimination in sport, bereavement and social activism. Described through Singh’s satirical lens, these thought-provoking plays bring us up-to-date with the challenges of life in post-Apartheid South Africa. They focus particularly on people of Indian origin and their relationship with other South African communities and chart the loss of ideals in the dream of the Rainbow nation. With a Foreword by director Ralph Lawson, and Introduction by Pranav Joshipura, Professor of English, Mahila College, Gandhinagar, India. Reviews “Ashwin Singh’s plays, working in a contemporary idiom and style and context, become a place for us to set up house, to inhabit, a place filled with humour, compassion and insight. They categorically signal a disposition not to remain silent, not to remain indifferent, prompting us and nudging us to make choices about how we live in our world.” Dr Betty Govinden, KZN Literary Tourism “The ability to capture the lives and communities of Durban with both pathos and humour resonates in all Singh’s works. The plays pay tribute to the city’s cultural and aesthetic beauty but they also expose its underbelly of crime, corruption and racial tension.” Estelle Sinkins, Weekend Witness “As with his To House and Spice ‘n Stuff, Shooting author Ashwin Singh tackles his subjects head-on, using his considerable writing skills to blend important historical and contemporary issues with entertainment.” Caroline Smart, The Mercury About the author Ashwin Singh is an attorney, academic, playwright, director and actor. His first anthology of plays, Durban Dialogues, Indian Voice was published in 2013 by Aurora Metro Books. The book is being studied and/or referenced at a variety of universities in South Africa, India, Canada and Europe. Singh has also been published as a playwright in the collective anthologies, New South African Plays (Aurora Metro Books, 2006) and The Catalina Collection (Catalina UnLtd, 2013). He is also a published poet and academic author. Singh is a three-time national award winner via the PANSA Playreading Festival (the country’s foremost playwriting contest) with his plays To House (2003); Duped (2005); and Reoca Light (2012). He is also a respected stage and radio actor, having performed in a number of dramatic and comic productions. Singh also played a lead role in award winning UK director James Brown’s short film about child abuse, One Wedding and a Funeral.
