Monday, Masie is off to work and Tod & I stay at home catching up and preparing for the interviews and rehearsal. I give Tod a crash course in the various political parties within South Africa and their basic positions along with a basic outline of the recent history of the country. We go over the quotes and the biographies of the men whom he will be interviewing. I also continue to pour over the transcripts and quotes making more notes and links between the two. I need to be as solid as possible with this source material before Monday so that the actors can feel free to create whilst I keep them grounded in the source material.
I finally get my phone successfully registered and purchase airtime, which feels like a huge accomplishment. I send some texts, speak with my lovely wife and prepare to meet the actors on Tuesday. I also make a visit to the internet cafe to email Ahmed Kathrada several follow up questions from our first interview. I don't think that we will have the opportunity to interview him again, but he wanted me to send to him some follow up questions that he could answer in an email. That done, back home for another delicious dinner including, for the first time this trip, my favourite South African dish Chacalaka, a stew of baked beans & curried vegetables. Wonderful! And homemade....
