Chrsele 212016423
Chris Henry Rispel, born in the year 1959, popularly known as Kubbe Rispel, is a well-known Namibian playwright.
He started his writing career in the apartheid era, during the time when Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. In the year 1980 he wrote a prophetic monologue called “The Dream”, in which he depicted how Nelson Mandela would reconcile with the enemy after he was freed.
As a teacher in Swakopmund, Namibia, during the time period of 1985 up to 1990 he started writing plays for his pupils in which he depicted socio economic, cultural as well as political issues of the then Namibia before independence. The plays he wrote then were mostly for the youth theatre. During this time he won first prize for his play “The Dream” at the Youth Theatre competition.
Thereafter he went on to win the Golden pen award for his play “The Child”. The golden pen award is the most prestigious award in Namibian Theatre, over the past 20 years it has only been won by three people, Kubbe Rispel being one of them. After this accomplishment, both “The Dream “ and “ The Child” were published in the book “New Namibian Plays “, in volumes one and two.
Most of the plays written by Kubbe Rispel have been performed in the National Theatre of Namibia. To name a few, The Dream, The Child, My trash can, Judas Iscariot, The Plight of The Tramp, The Power of Penis. Still today he is writing plays addressing all socio cultural and political issues that Namibians face. His latest endeavor is an Afrikaans play, called "Deur Die Trallies van My Hok", that deals with passion killing and woman and child abuse.
Written By: Chrsele