A touching tale of forgiveness

FRIDAY, JAN. 27: Could you forgive a group of people who were responsible for killing your child?

The Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts’ upcoming show Mother to Mother explores a real-life story surrounding this very conundrum.

The one-woman play brings together three powerhouse women of the arts in South Africa — writer, Sindiwe Magone, director, Janice Honeyman and actress Thembi Mtshali-Jones.

It is based upon the murder of the straight-A American Fullbright student Amy Biehl in Cape Town’s Gugulethu.

Beihl’s International Relations major was for ending apartheid which motivated her to travel to South Africa. She helped to register black voters for the country’s first ever all-race elections. Less than a year into her trip she was brutally murdered by a gang of young black militants whose cause she had been fighting for.

Mother to Mother is based upon a novel that recalls the fictional testimony from the mother of one of the killers to the mother of the victim.

The four men convicted were eventually granted amnesty and one of the killers now works for the foundation set up by the mother of Beihl in her daughter’s name.

Actress Mtshali-Jones has appeared as part of the festival in the highly acclaimed performance of A Woman In Waiting.

Performance info:
Where: City Hall Theatre
When: Tuesday, January 31
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $65 or $25. Visit www.bermudafestival.org