April 2026 marked a significant moment in the international journey of our theatre production Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept.

On April 16, The Market Theatre Foundation, in partnership with the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, hosted a special event honouring the life and legacy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.

In a statement shared on Facebook, the foundation emphasized the deeper meaning of such collaborations:

“There is profound symbolism in this collaboration. This is why collaboration matters. Because reconciliation does not live in policy alone. It must also live in culture, in public encounter, in moral imagination, and in the brave spaces where nations continue learning how to speak across pain.”

The play is currently being presented to South African audiences from April 9 to 19, 2026, with the official opening night held on April 10.

A collaboration between Qendra Multimedia and The Market Theatre, the production has been described by Weekly SA Mirror News as “a powerful new theatre production set to reignite national reflection on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), three decades after its historic hearings began.”

The play creates a compelling dialogue between South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Kosovo’s Movement for the Reconciliation of Blood Feuds, bridging distinct histories and cultural contexts while exploring shared paths toward reconciliation.

“Our idea was not just to bring those historical initiatives to the surface,” says Jeton Neziraj, the play’s writer, in an interview with Mail & Guardian, “but to bring them into dialogue with this time.”

Reflecting on the production, the article further notes:

“In a world increasingly defined by division, competing truths, and the erosion of shared narratives, Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept does not pretend to offer solutions.
Instead, it offers something both more modest and more demanding: an invitation to sit with discomfort, to listen across differences, and to seriously consider what it might take to forgive — and, more importantly, what it might take to build something lasting from that forgiveness.”

After the tour in South Africa, the production will continue with an extensive European tour, including Norway, Italy, Germany, and Portugal. Performances are also planned at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris in May 2027, as well as a season at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York.