The play, Tshepang: The Third Testament is based on the well-publicised rape of baby Tshepang in 2001.

The nine-month-old Tshepang was first presumed to have been gang-raped by six men, but it was later discovered that her mother's boyfriend was the perpetrator.

The play, written by multi-award-winning theatre director, writer and producer, Lara Foot Newton, and directed by TUT drama lecturer, Kingdom Moshounyane, is a fictional account of this incident.

“While the rape incident is the main dramatic focus of the play, it is expressly placed within a bigger context: the socio-economic circumstances of a particular (South African) society, where poverty, alcoholism and a general disillusionment with life prevail,” says Kingdom. “The rapist was also a victim of vicious childhood assaults.”

The play features students, Richard Ntsie and Tshepo Seagiso, the narrator, (both alternating the character, Simon), Bonisile Nxumalo and Khanyisile Tshabalala (both alternating the character Ruth, Tshepang’s mother). She (Ruth) is silent throughout the play.

Performances start at 19:00. A matinee will be staged on Saturday, 26 February, at 15:00.

The Breytenbach Theatre is situated at 137 Gerhard Moerdyk Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria.

For bookings, contact the Theatre on 012 440 4834.

Please note that Tsephang: The Third Testament is not suitable for sensitive viewers.