How Now Brown Cow Proudly Presents
The Multi Award-Winning South African Play
EXPELLED
SEASONS
Pieter Toerien Theatre
24 March to 11 April 2027
Theatre on the Bay
25 August to 12 September 2027
The production had its World Premiere in Cape Town at the Golden Arrow Studio Theatre at The Baxter on Wednesday 7 February, and ran until 2 March 2024.
Written by Rosalind Butler (as a commission from the HNBC Writers’ Collective Program)
The play Expelled, written by South African playwright Rosalind Butler, has been selected as an IEB Grade 12 Drama setwork for 2027 through 2029.
Expelled is a play about social media’s power to connect and its power to destroy. Can a few minutes of bad judgment ruin a life?
Expelled is a family drama, darkly comedic at times, which focuses on the largely ungoverned world of social media. Alex, a Matric pupil at an elite school, gets caught up in a viral scandal and is suspended. Once shared, lives alter in seconds, what’s seen cannot be unseen. The ramifications for his family are profound.
Written by Rosalind Butler, Expelled was created out of How Now Brown Cow’s script development program, The Writers’ Collective during lockdown in 2020. Directed by Craig Freimond, the cast features Charmaine Weir-Smith and Aaron McIlroy. Designs for the production are by Kieran McGregor and Daniel Rutland Manners.
“The topicality of Expelled immediately appealed to How Now Brown Cow and we are proud to have nurtured it’s development through The Writers’ Collective,” says Julie-Anne McDowell, founder of and producer at How Now Brown Cow. “It is a pertinent play for our social media obsessed world, and we believe it’s critical impact will resonate loudly for years to come. We all need to witness this valuable story.”
SPECIAL SCHOOL DISCOUNTS
A powerful South African set work for the classroom and the stage
EXPELLED is a powerful new South African play by Rosalind Butler that began its journey in the How Now Brown Cow Writers' Collective, the company's script development programme launched during the 2020 lockdown to nurture original local voices.
Exploring the devastating impact of social media, EXPELLED follows a matric learner whose life is turned upside down after a viral incident. Winner of the Naledi Best New South African Script and Best Actress Award in 2024. Now published by WITS University Press, Expelled is an IEB set Drama text 2027-2029.
Written by Rosalind Butler
Foreward by Greg Homann
How to order your copies
Until 30 September 2026
Schools and bookshops with accounts with Booksite Africa can continue to order Wits University Press titles directly through Booksite Africa.
If you do not have a Booksite Africa account, you can enquire with Corina Van Der Spoel at Corina.VanDerSpoel@wits.ac.za, or order through:
Blue Weaver Marketing and Distribution
Tel: 021 701 4477
Email: orders@blueweaver.co.za
From 1 October 2026
Jacana Media will become Wits University Press’s new sales and distribution agent. The distribution warehouse will remain Booksite Africa.
Schools, libraries and bookshops can order through:
Jacana Media
Tel: +27 (0)11 628 3200
Email: orders@bsales@jacana.co.za
Website: jacana.co.za
Please note: Schools and bookshops with Booksite Africa accounts will still be able to order Wits University Press titles directly from Booksite Africa after the changeover.
For any questions about ordering or obtaining copies of Expelled, please contact Corina Van Der Spoel at Corina.VanDerSpoel@wits.ac.za.
“The topicality of Expelled immediately appealed to How Now Brown Cow and we are proud to have nurtured it’s development through The Writers’ Collective. It is a pertinent play for our social media obsessed world, and we believe it’s critical impact will resonate loudly for years to come. We all need to witness this valuable story.”
- Julie-Anne Mcdowell (Founder, How Now Brown Cow)
