ROBERT HINDLEY
Oom Bey, My PaGet to know Robert Hindley as he shares his thoughts on his performance in Oom Bey, My Pa
How did you Connect with this character?
"As the characters I played were both real and part of memory, I connected with all the characters through their humanity. Whether they were a journalist in a park or a memory distillation of the late Beyers Naude, I immensely enjoyed tapping into their universal capacity for empathy, pain, fear and love."
What is your favourite Scene and Why?
"My favourite scene must be what our team refers to simply as ‘Adam’. In this scene, I get to jump between several characters in support of my co-performer’s character’s recollection of a traumatic event in the heat of Apartheid South Africa. With each performance we relished in the theatricality of the scene, as well as its content – it balances a reminder of the unjust political landscape of Apartheid South Africa with the confused and honest experience of a young girl watching it all unfold."
What was your take-out from this experience?
"Beside discovering (and taking immense pride in,) Beyers Naude as a true South African hero, this process gifted me with a refreshed sense of hope and courage with which to brave our future here in South Africa. If Naude, a simple pastor, South African, husband, and father, could set aside his own needs and openly standing up against injustice in the heat of Apartheid, then what’s stopping the rest of us to do what we know is right."
*Headshot image by Mark Le Grange