Splatt could not have imagined that a simple quest to find colour would reveal its true essence!

Splatt, an adolescent water drop, lives in Sea Drop Village on the ocean floor at a depth where water has absorbed all colours of light spectrum, and everything appears grey. He is curious and somewhat rebellious; and struggles to blindly accept the authoritarian dogma he is taught – from the dangers of entering the open ocean, to a required unyielding reverence to Thunder God his creator, and finally the threat of death by painful evaporation should he rise to the surface. But most of all he refuses to accept that colour does not exist.

Splatt becomes preoccupied with the fabled Colourland and convinces his girlfriend Lara to set out under the cover of darkness to find it. But only meters into their quest they get separated by strong currents and carried in opposite directions. Both know the only way to reunite is to find Colourland. But the ocean is vast and home to diverse Drop Species that are often hostile.

Success seems increasingly unlikely and at times impossible. The Question is: is colour found in the journey, the destination, or beyond?

Weary of academic study, an eminent scholar turns to magic and makes a deal with the Devil. Mephistopheles will serve him and give him whatever he wants, but after twenty-four years Faustus must keep his side of the bargain. This edition contains a detailed introductory section that puts the play in its historical context, in-depth textual notes, extracts from key critical works and exam-style questions.

An electrifying one-woman play inspired by the true story of a woman who served as a political assassin during South Africa’s transition to democracy. As the protagonist confronts her past, she becomes a powerful symbol of defiance and compassion in a story of resistance and survival in a conflict-torn country.

Isidlamlilo/ The Fire Eater is an electrifying one-woman play inspired by the true story of a woman who served as a political assassin in the build-up to South Africa’s first democratic elections. Zenzile Maseko, the protagonist, is a 60-year-old Zulu grandmother living in a women’s hostel in Durban. Falsely declared dead by the Department of Home Affairs, she finds herself cast into a Kafkaesque nightmare that forces her to confront her past.

Flown in on the wings of the Impundulu (the lightning bird), Zenzile’s story weaves a magical and terrifying tapestry. She draws on myth, religious symbolism and traditional beliefs as she shares the realities – at times brutal, at times forgiving – of survival in South Africa. Her story touches on what it means to live through political violence, the transition to democracy, the brutality of inequality, health epidemics like HIV/AIDS, patriarchy, and the apathetic bureaucracy of government departments.

Ultimately, Isidlamlilo / The Fire Eater offers a critical and unflinching look at the eddying cycles of violence and revenge that play out across generations. Yet it is most of all a story about regeneration and redemption that speaks to both the country’s haunted past and its present-day complexities.

Isidlamlilo / The Fire Eater will appeal to teachers, high school learners, and tertiary students in theatre, drama and English studies.

The Heinemann Plays series offers contemporary drama and classic plays in durable classroom editions. Many have large casts and an equal mix of boy and girl parts. This dramatization of George Orwell's Animal Farm comes with lyrics by Adrian Mitchell and music by Richard Peaslee.

Three trees that dream of greatness are surprised by the way their dreams come true.