The System

This fresh-voiced tale of escape by South African company African Tree Productions is a vivid splash of colour and imagination, performed with great energy and physical comedy.

Kgosana Thekwana’s play mixes farce and social commentary as it delves into the miscarriages of justice behind the imprisonment of three men who we watch break out of jail at the start.

Under Alex Motswiri’s sprightly direction, a five-strong cast play the escapees and multiple other roles, setting the scene in joyfully inventive poor theatre style. Kitted out in primary-coloured jumpsuits, they clamber over each other to create courtrooms, cars and shops. This visual inventiveness is yoked to a Three Stooges sensibility that produces some genuinely funny moments against a backdrop of social inequality and poverty in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The social stigma of AIDS, the treatment of women and deep-seated ethnic tensions are all part of the production’s glide across the landscape of modern South Africa. The everyday harshness of the play’s world gives its knockabout humour a distinctive edge. While never heavy-handed, it doesn't ignore the politics of the social divisions within which its characters live.

In terms of structure, the script is a bit chaotic: the prisoners’ flashbacks feel lopsided and the story doesn’t so much conclude as just abruptly stop in the back of a truck. But this loose-limbed quality is part of the show’s charm. Its rangy sense of fun is infectious and the performances burst off the stage to sweep you up in an irresistible rush.