Around me · 2026
Hey Scott, I envy you
An homage to SCOTT, written and directed by Morapeleng Molekoa and performed by Sibuyiselo “Sbuja” Dywili at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in 2026.
SCOTT began in response to a real incident in Cape Town in 2018. A white woman, her dog and her Black employee were involved in a car accident. The woman and her dog survived. Her employee, sitting at the back of the ‘bakkie’, did not.
This work is about envy.
A dog, Scott, sits at the table, dressed well, eating well, surrounded by more food than anyone needs. Around him is comfort, excess and abundance.
Above him: violence, deprivation, separation, violence and chaos. The space that people of colour often occupy.
What does it mean when a person of colour can look at a dog and envy its life? Envy how it is fed, protected, loved and allowed to belong.
In the eyes of some, people of colour ARE dogs,
But they won’t dare invite them to their table...
Source credits
Stage photograph of Sibuyiselo “Sbuja” Dywili in SCOTT — photographer unknown
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor, 1894
John Martin, The Great Day of His Wrath, c. 1853
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Aeneas and a Sibyl in the Underworld, c. 1600
Johann Moritz Rugendas, Nègres à fond de cale, 1835
Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1743–1744
John Martin, Pandemonium, 1841
McPherson & Oliver, Gordon (The Scourged Back), 2 April 1863
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888