Herschelle Benjamin. (Photo: IdeaCandy)
As a young writer and dramatist, Herschelle Benjamin tries to make sense of life by putting pen to paper and his feelings and thoughts.
Even though he has to spend long nights and weekends to finish his writing, words are his greatest passion.
“It helps if you don’t have a personal life,” jokes Herschelle in an interview with Maroela Media at the Suidoosterfees in Cape Town earlier this month.
Among other things, he led book discussions at the art festival and read some of his poems, and the play Joshlin: More than a namefrom his own pen, appeared on the shelves.
Herschelle is part of kykNET’s marketing team during the day and for him his writing is a kind of escape from the corporate world.
“Writing feeds me, and I have to keep doing it so that I can do my day job to the fullest,” he says.
His works often deal with weighty themes, with his first play, Slaveryin which he examined his place as a young brown boy from Piketberg in the Western Cape who suddenly had to find his feet as a drama student in Stellenbosch.
“Suddenly everything is grande en fancy and the people are so different. I struggled with finding my place, and then I left my feelings on paper.”
Same with Joshlinhe explains. “I know that world of Saldanha, and the play provides social commentary that was sparked in me as I stayed informed about this child’s tragic case in the news.
“For me, it is about the fact that we as South Africans are still not doing enough to protect, secure and empower our children. It is important to me that all our decisions must be made based on what is the best outcome for the children.”
Herschelle (30) applied to Stellenbosch University after school for his studies in LLB law, but quickly realized that he was moving in the wrong direction.
“I was scared every day in class for the first week of my studies. I was also selected for drama studies and decided to switch to that field – without my parents’ knowledge. I only told them in the first holiday and they were angry at first, but we negotiated a bit, and the condition was that I still had to get good grades and my scholarship. It was not kept now party time not,” he says with a laugh.
In front of the famous Traverse Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Herschelle won the Elizabeth McLennan Theater Scholarship to the Scottish summer school SUISS in 2018. (Photo: Provided)
Antoinette Kellerman, lecturer and veteran actress, trained him as an actor, while he also completed his honors degree in drama and theater studies under the guidance of theater icon Marthinus Basson.
“I hope the festivals and arts industry remain healthy, because I hope one day to support myself with writing and theater work.”
Herschelle is also in the process of finishing a collection of poems under the guidance of Fourie Botha and Kwêla Uitgewers. He hopes to finish the volume by November.
“Poetry is another thing. I try to find a golden thread through the poems, but I also work on one poem at a time, so they also function on their own. The themes look a lot at masculinity and young brown boys’ life experience. I talk a lot about the world where I come from and how I experience life at the moment. There is also a bit of politics and poems about growing older.”
As a young brown man, this theme is woven into his DNA and he explains that he has always felt different from his father, uncles or cousins, and because his interests differed from theirs. As an only child, Herschelle had a love for books and a flair for the arts from an early age.
“It can be very difficult for boys who are different, but it’s important for me to tell the narrative that you don’t lose your masculinity if you’re defenseless or softer. If you’re not the rugby guy, you’re not the rugby guy,” he explains.
“Until you are 18 years old, you are in your mother and father’s world, and they raise you and tell you how you should look and what you should do in the world. Through my work, I try to manage to tell people that there are many places in society for all of us. No one is just one thing.”
His parents, who still live on Piketberg, are quiet people who differ from him day and night, but they watch all the soap operas on kykNET, keep up to date with the news and sports and read magazines.
“Every time they congratulate me on new projects I undertake and support my career. Sometimes I forget to tell them what I’m doing, then my mother will call and say: ‘I see your face here again. What are you doing again?'” he says, laughing.
