REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER
THE KING OF BROKEN THINGS
DIRECTOR AND WRITER: Michael Taylor-Broderick
ACTOR: Cara Roberts
VENUE: Mannie Manim Theatre at the Market Theatre
DATES: Until Sunday
AGE: From 10 years old
DURATION: Approximately an hour
![](https://debeernecessities.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/king-of-broken-things3.jpg)
![](https://debeernecessities.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/king-of-broken-things2.jpg)
![](https://debeernecessities.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/king-of-broken-things.jpg)
![](https://debeernecessities.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/king-of-broken-things-1_-003.jpg)
This is the final call for this delightful play which has been doing the rounds for some time but, is as far as I know, this is its first visit to Gauteng.
Solo plays are festival standards and a wonderful way to discover new directors and actors. In this instance, Roberts, who according to the internet, is based in Durban, has been seen on local stages but also has a number of solo productions as part m of her repertoire.
That tells you about a performer who knows how to generate her own work, something they need when trying to survive in an industry hard hit in any troubled times. Survival is part of their normal game.
And for the character Roberts is portraying in this particular venture, a 10-year old boy, it is all about survival.
We don’t know too much about him except that he is living in a world of “broken things”, which dominate his life and the space in which we find him. If the world he was given is too difficult to navigate, it seems, his remarkably skilled solution is to create a space that can accommodate his wounded soul.
But that is how many young children react to a tough situation which they might not understand and in which the adults in their lives are sometimes the culprits who have created what seems to be a dark space.
And we all know that while communication is the best way to keep anyone’s world on track, it’s something that everyone seems to have a problem understanding. Just check around you and the problems you bump into – communication is such a handy tool if we would just go there.
Yet when your life seems to be dominated by pain, losing people you love and trying to find the reason for these tough times, you will find a way. You might not understand what is happening, but in this instance, the young child talks and creates his way to a better place.
It’s one of those plays that presents you with a moment in time, one that most of us encounter in some way, but he has found a way. If others can’t fix you, there are ways to make your dreams come true.
Roberts is an astonishing actor. Playing someone much younger is a tough ask, but with a smart script and a performer that throws herself at the role with just the right balance, it works.
It’s a charming hour and a play which I think especially teenagers should see. They would pick up a few life lessons and discover the way theatre can generate both wisdom and wit as The King of Broken Things leads them into a world of wonder where imagination is the ingredient that really matters. Shows tonight (7pm), tomorrow (3 and &pm) and Sunday (3pm). Bookings at https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/Event.aspx?itemid=1537172754