LATEST UPDATE 14 AUG 2010: Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances, Gillian Slovo will be unable to participate at this event.

This event features a guided talk by renowned photographer Jillian Edelstein on Truth & Lies, her pioneering series of photographs and text on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa. This is followed by short performances from acclaimed actress and director Janet Suzman and award-winning actor and playwright Paul Herzberg. Richard Freedman, director of the South African Holocaust Foundation, will share about his experiences - the choices and challenges - he faced during the apartheid era. The evening will end with a Q&A session with the audience.

At centre stage is the power of people's testimonies, like those showcased in Jillian's Truth & Lies. Truth will out when those with the courage to confront their past - no matter how distressing or painful - take the steps to share their experiences and their stories.

Places are limited, so please book ahead to avoid disappointment.

London based photographer Jillian Edelstein was born and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. Her portraits have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Interview. She has received several awards including the Kodak UK Young Photographer of the Year in 1986, Photographers Gallery Portrait Photographer of the Year Award 1990, the Visa d’Or at the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan in 1997, the European Final Art Polaroid Award in 1999, the John Kobal Book Award 2003.

Between 1996 and 2002 she returned to South Africa frequently to document the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her award-winning book Truth and Lies, shot in large format was published by Granta in 2002. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally at venues including the National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers Gallery, The Royal Academy New Art Space, the Tom Blau Gallery in London, the Recontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, France, the Bensusan Museum,Johannesburg,and Robben Island Museum in Cape Town, South Africa.

South African-born actress Janet Suzman is an established star of the London stage, with outstanding performances in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It and Cleopatra, to name but a few. She comes from a politically active family and is niece to the civil rights and anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman.

Janet has appeared in many British TV dramas and films, including Lord Mountbatten-The Last Viceroy, The Singing Detective, and A Dry White Season opposite Marlon Brando. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for her performance in Nicholas and Alexandra. She has also directed numerous productions, such as Othello, The Good Woman of Setzuan, a modern adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, A Dream of People, and The Snow Palace. Her more recent appearances include performances in the West End revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway? with Kim Cattrall and Coriolanus. Janet is also the author of Acting With Shakespeare: Three Comedies, which is based on a series of acting master classes.

Paul Herzberg was born in South Africa. He first trained in film, main subject scriptwriting; then as an actor at the University of Cape Town; and after moving to London, at LAMDA. Paul is an award-winning playwright and actor. He has performed at the Almeida, the Mermaid, the Royal Exchange and Chichester and in over 20 television and film productions. These include his performance as Papa Louw in his own play The Dead Wait, in Anthony Sher's play ID, and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. He began writing in 1981 with Sweet Like Suga in which he performed in London and Canada.

His play The Dead Wait has been adapted for radio broadcast on BBC4 and was performed at the Royal Exchange and Market Theatre Johannesburg. The Dead Wait tells the tale of a young South African athlete, conscripted as a soldier in the Angolan Civil War, who tries to own up to his crime on arriving back home. The play stems from Paul's own experiences and has its roots in the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Gillian Slovo has written eleven novels, her  family memoir Every Secret Thing and two verbatim plays. Her novel Ice Road was short-listed for the Orange Prize.  Red Dust, winner of France’s Temoin du Monde prize, a novel about the coming of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission into a fictional town was made into a  film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Photo credit: Charlie Hopkinson

Richard Freedman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his degree in Drama, History, English and Social Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand, and a postgraduate degree in Education at the University of Cape Town. He taught History and English in Cape Town high schools and was appointed principal of Herzlia Weizmann School in 1990, a position he held until 2005. He has delivered papers and conducted seminars on Holocaust Education in South Africa in Germany ,Israel and the UK and most recently in Namibia. In 2006 he was appointed director of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and in 2007 Director of The South African Holocaust Foundation. He continues to hold both positions.

Exhibition
14 Sept - 10 Oct 2010

Public Event
14 Sept 2010, 7pm
Entrance Fee: £15*
Concession: £10**
** Students, retirees and unemployed
Redeemable for £5 off books purchased in store