Twist

Zanele is attacked on stage, three nights after the premiere. Before this, she prepared in rehearsals, did press, and argued against those who said she was violating both copyright and Beckett’s wishes. She was committed to the production as a statement on climate change, and she refused to back down.

During the fourth show, in the second act, Zanele played a small role, staying silent. While she lay on the floor, a man from the back of the audience rose and slowly walked to the stage. People wondered if it was part of the show, and they believed the jar in his hand was a drink. When he approached the stage, Zanele began to get up and quickly covered her face with her arms as he flung the liquid in the jar at her. It was hydrochloric acid.

On the footage of the attack, after the acid hit Zanele, the man allowed himself to be subdued by the audience. The ambulance arrived, and the image of Zanele, shirtless on the floor as they poured water over her wounds, is everywhere. A paramedic helps her, trying to keep any acid from touching her eyes.

The attack happens almost simultaneously with the first cable repair on the Georges Lecointe.