A Human Being Died That Night (Nicholas Wright)

I admit that I was late coming to more than a passing interest in the anti-apartheid movement and the ANC, not really becoming aware of what was happening in South Africa until Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.  In many ways, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established later that decade should have included non-South Africans like me who, for whatever reason, failed to prevent human rights violations.  Because it dealt with a collective guilt that included my own, I found the TRC fascinating and therapeutic from afar.

Nicholas Wright based his play on a book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a psychologist who served on the TRC.  It spans several years of interviews she conducted with Eugene de Kock, known in the South African press as Prime Evil, while he served two life sentences plus 212 years in Pretoria Central Prison for crimes committed when he was head of a police unit charged with covertly countering terroism (aka ANC). 

As presented in the play, de Kock's imprisonment gave him a freedom to speak the truth that those who sought amnesty or forgiveness were unable to quite grasp.  Beyond regretting the atrocities committed by himself and under his leadership, he spoke of the guilt of others who never fully admitted the truth of their complicity.

Neither maudlin nor glib, the performances by Noma Dumezweni and Matthew Marsh are impeccable in their timing and subtle.

Must see, highly recommended.