WRITTEN by iconic writer/philosopher Ayn Rand and directed by veteran Johann van der Merwe, The Night Of January 16 will run at Milnerton Playhouse from February 6 to 21, as the stage becomes a courtroom and the audience, the jury. With this participation as the key to the outcome of the show, 12 patrons become jurors who will vote guilty or not-guilty every night, thus changing the end of each show.
This gripping drama about the rise and destruction of a brilliant and ruthless man is a play with a difference as you decide the fate of Karen Andre: guilty or not guilty? This embodies Rand’s style of social commentary – “Who is truly on trial – the accused, or the society that judges her?” it promises to be a nail- biting, thought provoking and absorbing evening.
The cast includes veteran and new actors; LAMTA graduate Tumelo Mogashoa makes his amateur theatre debut as the District Attorney.
The trial of Karen Andre (Kendra Maduray) grips New York. Once the brilliant secretary – and mistress – of powerful Swedish financier Bjorn Faulkner, she now stands accused of his death after he fell 50 stories from the penthouse they once shared.
The courtroom becomes the stage for a moral duel between two opposing worlds: the cold rationalism of District Attorney Flint (Mogashoa) and the passionate defiance of Defence Attorney Stevens (Gillian Vosloo), who insists that the truth about Faulkner’s death is tied to the kind of man he was – ruthless, magnetic, and unbound by ordinary rules.
Witnesses deliver testimony one by one: the building staff, the police inspector, a private investigator, the widow and more, each with another piece of the puzzle, until an unexpected twist silences the courtroom. The judge watches. The attorneys question. Tension reigns.
Ayn Rand achieved fame as a novelist, but her first public success came as a playwright. Night of January 16th opened on Broadway in 1935, introducing her to audiences as a bold critic of social conformity.
DETAILS
- Dates and times: Fridays February 6, 13, 20; Saturdays February 7, 14, 21 February 2026 at 7.30pm; matinees Saturdays 14 and 21 February, and Sunday 8 February at 2.30pm
- Venue: Milnerton Playhouse Theatre, 81 Pienaar Road, Milnerton
- Ticket price: R150 bookings here. For concessions/discounts/pensioners specials, email bookings@milnertonplayers.com
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