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The Crossing is a 2009 South African one-man play by Jonathan Nkala. The play documents the struggles Nkala had while illegally immigrating from his birth city of Kwekwe, Zimbabwe to Cape Town, South Africa from 2002 to 2006. The original production, titled The Journey, opened November 5 2006 at the Garage Theatre, a 30-seat house in Hout Bay, Cape Town and was directed by Bo Peterson and starred Nkala. The title was changed in July 2008 after Nkala showed the production to his friends who suggested he make the switch.

Synopsis

The play begins with the singular actor making bead and wire figures as the audience enters the theater. He introduces himself as Khumbu and then describes the town of Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, where Jonathan Nkala grew up, as being corrupted and too expensive for the average Zimbabwean. Wanting a life of abundance, Khumbu and his friend Jacob decide to use the money that they had buried in their back yards to illegally migrate to South Africa. After hitching a ride to the river border between the two countries, the two realize that it would be too difficult to cross with the border patrol present, so they decide to join a group that is walking to Chivara, a town 200 km away from the border post. After three days of walking, the group arrives at the Limpopo River. Khumbu is overwhelmed by the thought of having to swim in the crocodile-filled water, but is then able to trade his shoes to local men in exchange for passage across the river on a large log. After crossing to the other side in South Africa, Khumbu realizes that Jacob had been swept away by the river during their crossing, but cannot report it to the police since he is illegally in the country and reporting would result in his deportation back to Zimbabwe.

Khumbu and the others he migrated with are later employed as tomato pickers on a farm not far from the border. After a week of work, he asks for his weeks pay from the foreman, who initially laughs at him, but then gives him his devastatingly low wages, not nearly enough to give to the farm's truck drivers to transport him away. However, he is able to get a lift from one of the men after helping him to understand his new cellphone by reading the manual, which the driver cannot do. The driver stops at a gas station to drop off tomatoes but does not return for many hours, causing Khumbu to get out of the truck and start walking to Johannesburg. On the way, he encounters another group of migrants, one of whom is able to ask for a ride in a van. The van drops them in a town called Germiston, where a good Samaritan gives them money for train tickets to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, Khumbu is in awe of the way the people live, from the food, to the presence of dogs as pets, and even the amount of Caucasian people. However, despite the decadence of the city, he grows lonely, and creates a wire figure to resemble Jacob to keep him company. After weeks of trying to find employment and living solely off of mulberries he stole from peoples' yards, he gets a job scooping manure in a woman's garden. Despite being told to do it over two days, he accomplishes the task in half of a day, prompting his employer, a real-estate agent named Margaret, to pay him extra as well as keeping him employed working on other houses she would be selling. Despite his new success, Khumbu decides that he wants to get an Asylum Seeker Permit, but finds that it is too expensive in Johannesburg, leading him to hitchhike to Cape Town where he hears that it is free to get one.

The truck driver he receives a ride from starts verbally attacking him in the middle of a drive for not having the full amount of money he wanted and forces him to sit on the floor of the truck for the remainder of the trip. Khumbu then gets his permit in Cape Town and takes a train back to Johannesburg, where he is now able to walk the streets legally. One day, a police officer stops him and demands to see his I.D., rejecting his asylum permit. He is put in the Lindela Repatriation Centre where he calls Margaret to pick him up. He is thrown back in Lindela several times, and has to get his asylum permit renewed every six months in Cape Town, forcing him to move there to no longer be an inconvenience to Margaret. In Cape Town, he makes and sells the wire dolls that he has been crafting on stage. He finishes by telling the audiences that his journey has made him strong and brave and that it has allowed him to appreciate his own intelligence.

Productions

The Garage Theatre (2006)

The Journey premiered at The Garage Theatre, a 30-seat house in Hout Bay, Cape Town, on November 5, 2006. Jonathan Nkala played himself with Bo Peterson as director. The show returned to the Garage Theatre for single performances in May 2007 and September 2008. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nokuds (talk • contribs) 17:11, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

Critical Reception

Bibliography:

Flockemann, Miki. “The Everyday Experience of Xenophobia: Performing The Crossing from Zimbabwe to South Africa.” Critical Arts, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 245–259., doi:10.1080/02560041003786516.

Nkala, Jonathan Khumbulani., and Jonathan Khumbulani. Nkala. The Crossing ; and, the Bicycle Thief. Junkets, 2009.

Ravengai, Samuel. “Embodiment, Mobility and the Moment of Encounter in Jonathan Nkala’s The Crossing.” Performing Migrancy and Mobility in Africa, doi:10.1057/9781137379344.0010.

Flockemann, Miki, et al. “Performing Xenophobia: a Conversation with Jonathan Nkala and Bo Petersen.” South African Theatre Journal, vol. 23, no. 1, 2009, pp. 207–220., doi:10.1080/10137548.2009.9687910.

Felicia

I think the article gives a clear synopsis of the play. I wonder if you could add a section with information about the playwright too (unless that would technically have to be its own wiki page-- I don't know). I noticed that the references repeat; it looks like you have the same reference listed twice. Not sure if that's a mistake? Also, I think it might be good to cite at the end of each paragraph of the synopsis, rather than only at the end, just to be on the safe side of citing and to have all your bases covered. Yay great job! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Felicia Oduh (talk • contribs) 18:10, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

Rachel: This article is really coming along! I would agree with Felicia that I think it would be super helpful to add a section about the playwright. I also think expanding your information about the production histories could be super helpful. You can add information about who was in the cast, how long was the run, who was the director, etc. I would love to see you develop the critical acclaim section. I think it could be very interesting if you quoted some reviews and noted some any awards that the play won. If you are able to find any of this information about critical acclaim, I would also suggest adding some of it to your lead paragraph to emphasize the effect of the play. Rkhutorsky (talk) 18:39, 17 May 2018 (UTC)Rachel