The Unlikely Secret Agent

Eleanor, an unassuming, young single mother is arrested at Griggs Bookstore where she works in Durban and taken for questioning. The police are on the hunt for her lover, the notorious “terrorist”, Red Ronnie Kasrils. She finds herself detained under the 90-day detention act and brutally interrogated. They will “break her or hang her”. Written and directed by award winning actor and playwright, Paul du Toit and based on the Alan Paton Award winning book by Ronnie Kasrils, The Unlikely Secret Agent tells a true story of bravery and hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
It’s 1963, South Africa. The country is on a knife edge. Political protest, sabotage and violence has engulfed the country. Government forces of the Apartheid regime, under Hendrik Verwoerd, brutally suppress resistance. Under the State of Emergency, the feared Special Branch of the police arrest anyone suspected of being involved in underground activities. Ronnie is wanted for his involvement in a string of sabotage bombings of electricity pylons, the Durban post office and the offices of the Special Branch. There is no point in her resisting, the police “know everything”. But do they really? Eleanor is keeping a secret. She is a clandestine agent for the Underground ANC. But she must protect her comrades and Ronnie. She makes the daring decision to fake a nervous breakdown in order to be transferred to a psychiatric institution. From there, she begins to plot her escape.

Age Recommendation: PG-14 contains strong language, racial prejudice and gender-based violence.
Duration: 105min
Interval: 15min

Written by: Paul du Toit
Directed by: Paul du Toit
Lighting design: Lize-Marie Wait
Sound scape and design: Jahn Beukes
AV Design: Paul du Toit, Salene Bekker
With: De Klerk Oelofse, Wessel Pretorius, Sanda Shandu, Ntlanhla Kutu and Erika Breytenbach-Marais.