'The Ugly Noo Noo' and the New South Africa

Have just seen Andrew Buckland’s brilliant one-man play, 'The Ugly Noo Noo'. First performed at the Market Theatre in 1988, it has worn extremely well. In fact, it has gained an unexpected contemporary resonance – it was clearly a seminal influence on Blomkamp’s District Nine.
At its most obvious level the play is a hilarious take on the fear and loathing inspired by the infamous ‘Parktown prawn’ – in reality a quite harmless, oversized cricket which invades gardens and houses and has some alarming habits (it can jump waist-high, and defecates in response to threat). It is also an (accidental) alien invader, brought to Joburg in loads of sand from some coastal area. It has adapted to its new urban environment and is remarkably resilient, resisting most attempts to exterminate it.
Back in the dark days of the 1980s, faced with multiple threats, real or imagined (the ‘rooi gevaar’, the ‘swart gevaar’, the ANC underground, MK) the play was a vehicle for political satire and sly subversion. Buckland’s performance inevitably generates sympathy for the despised ‘prawns’ – and provides a mock-serious expose of the ‘species-ism’ of which we humans are guilty. As the prawns are humanised through Buckland’s performance, the humans are defamiliarised. As we are obtain a prawn’s eye view of the human species, we realize what strange creatures we really are!
In the contemporary South African context The Ugly Noo Noo gains further, unexpected significance. One cannot help but be reminded of the recent xenophobic violence, when foreign ‘aliens’ were hacked to death, burnt alive, or driven into refuge camps (an event which also clearly informs Neill Blomkamp’s film).
The play’s exploration of our irrational fears and loathings is as relevant now as it was in 1988. Come back Andrew Buckland!