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First Love: Samuel Beckett’s Dark Comedy Arrives at Kippies

Panurge Theatre Co. in association with The Art Cave and The Market Theatre presents a staging of Samuel Beckett’s First Love as part of the 2026 Kippies Fringe Programme.

Running from 6 – 9 August 2026 at Kippies, the performance brings Samuel Beckett’s dark comedy to the heart of Jo’burg.

Written in 1946, some years before Beckett would shake the foundations of world theatre with Waiting for Godot, and described by novelist John Banville as “the most nearly perfect short story ever written”, First Love tells the deceptively simple tale of a man who – following the death of his father – is kicked out of his family house and, while living the life of a vagrant, meets a woman one night on a park bench, they fall in love and move in together.

But First Love is a story that thrives on how it is told, suffused with Samuel Beckett’s incomparable prose that finds humour in the darkest places and delves into the deepest recesses of the psyches of people on the fringes of society, to tell a story that is at once both hilarious and devastating.

The work further examines themes of loneliness, of loss and grief, of love, of fatherhood, of retreat.

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This staging of First Love, under the direction of Qondiswa James and with a performance by William Harding described as “a vocal and physical tour de force”, premiered at the POPArt Theatre in December 2025 to critical acclaim. The production focuses on a paired back, minimalist approach to the work, focusing on the symbiosis of performance and text, and using “Harding’s formidable physical theatre skills” (Bruce Dennill) to create a compact and commanding piece of theatre.

Qondiswa James is an award-winning theatre-maker, performance artist, film and theatre performer, installation artist, writer, arts facilitator and activist. Her directorial works include A Howl in Makhanda (Joburg Theatre), Amaxelegu (The Market Theatre), Emhlab’Obomvu (National Arts Festival) and Silindile, which was part of the UCT New Voices in 2017.

James was awarded the Theatre Arts Admin Collective’s Emerging Theatre Directors Bursary in 2018 for A Faint Patch of Light, a powerful re-interpretation of the legendary playwright Athol Fugard’s Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act. That play was nominated in 2019 for 2 Fleur du Cap Awards for Best New Director and Best Actress.

William Harding interprets the role of Beckett’s nameless narrator. Over the last decade William has established himself as one of South African theatre’s most versatile character actors. His work include performing in William Kentridge’s productions of The Great Yes, the Great No and Houseboy (both of which toured globally).

Other works include Metamorphosis, performed at UJ Theatre and directed by Alby Michaels, as well as Tartuffe, The Miser, The Table, CARGO: Precious, Travels Around My Room all of which were directed by Sylvaine Strike, among other productions over the years. His work as a playwright include Tobacco and the Harmful Effects Thereof, The Cenotaph of Dan Wa Moriri (in collaboration with Tomy Miyambo and Gerard Bester), Kings of the World as well as And then the sea….

Submerge yourself in Beckett’s dark and brilliant imagination in First Love at the Kippies Fringe from the 6 – 9 August 2026. Tickets are out on Webtickets selling for R100. Bulk tickets can be purchased at The Market Theatre box office: 4 tickets at R350 and 8 tickets at R670.

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The Kippies Fringe is an initiative of The Market Theatre, a division of The Market Theatre Foundation.

For media enquiries, please contact Bongiwe Potelwa (Publicist at The Market Theatre Foundation) at bongiwep@markettheatre.co.za or (011) 832 1641.

For reduced price block bookings of 10 or more and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke (Audience Development Specialist at The Market Theatre Foundation) at anthonye@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950.