HOLD STILL, a play in four acts

62pp., paperback, Wits University Press, Johannesburg, 2025

ISBN: 9781776148844

Foreword by Sisonke Msimang.

A play set in contemporary London. Interracial couple Rosa and Ben Feigel discover that their son Oliver is hiding his asylum-seeking friend, Imran, in their home. A bitter argument erupts around the morality of the law, the limits of empathy, and what we will do to protect those we love.

"Ever so gently but rather insistently, Nadia Davids has thrust us into a moral maelstrom, rooting for one and then the other character in this discomforting, frustrating and stingingly hopeful play. We are devastated to discover that the sceptic was closer to the truth, that our sense of ourselves as being good may well fall short of the price required. Hold Still is a masterwork that will be read and performed long after we're gone." Dele Olojede, Nigerian journalist and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting

"Hold Still is a beautiful and beguiling drama where generational conflict exposes the legacy of colonialism and the savagery of war. This is an urgent and profoundly human play that resonates across these troubled times." Professor Maria M. Delgado, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

Nadia Davids is a writer, theatre-maker and scholar. Her plays At Her Feet, Cissie and What Remains have won various Fleur de Cap Theatre awards.