War. What is it good for?

Deon Opperman’s “Ons vir Jou”, cowritten with Sean Else, who was partly behind the “De Lay Rey” song made famous by Bok van Blerk, is a visually spectacular chronicle of the Anglo Boer War as lived by the legendary General Koos de la Rey (played by opera celebrity Raoul Beukes) and his family, wife Nonnie (Michelle H Botha) and his two sons. After making it clear to pres. Kruger and his men that war with Britian is a bad idea, De la Rey finds himself in a conflict he did not want. Kudos to Opperman for giving us an Afrikaans hero figure who isn’t out for blood or, later, reckless vengeance. The creators of the show deserve further praise for the catchy songs and music, even giving the audience contemporary Afrikaans hits such as “Vergeet my nie meer nie” and the stirring “Ons vir Jou”. The play is well acted, features a stunning war scene and is clever in the way it manipulates its audience.

Precisely. “Ons vir Jou” has businesspeople working hard behind the scenes to put audience members in the seats, not to create great art or tell a historically accurate story. As usual, the facts shouldn’t hinder the story. The show milks audience sentiment on a variety of levels, so much so that a character’s death scene takes up a significant portion of the latter half of the production. Then there’s the one son of De la Rey’s, an overweight chap who is mostly played for laughs. It is a sad fact that the Fat Boy is an increasingly prominent part of the Afrikaans visual culture. In addition, poor Siener van Rensburg comes across, probably unintentionally, as a bit of a nutter.

The use of well established songs further reinforce the idea of “Ons vir Jou” as, first and foremost, a moneymaker. There is nothing wrong with intending for a production to be financially viable, even successful enough to turn a profit. The problem lies with its audience members who leave the show tearful, moved beyond rational thought, and who possibly will tell all their friends how breathtaking the production is without giving a second thought to its historical poetic license and its political non-impact.