Apartheid Seen From a Safe Distance in ‘Ancients’

A native South African, Lillian Wallace offers a thoughtful examination of South Africa under the apartheid system in “The Ancients of Zimbabwe” at the Laurelgrove Theater, but bogs down in self-conscious poeticism and a somewhat farfetched plot.

Wallace, who plays all of the characters in the show, is white. She lived under apartheid as a member of the status quo, and she brings that perspective to bear here. However, although obviously sincere, Wallace presumptuously preempts the experience of racism from a comfortable remove, and try as she might, she seldom convincingly bridges the divide between privilege and penury.

Wallace’s tale revolves around Reinette, an affluent white South African whose repugnance for her country’s racist system develops during childhood, when she witnesses the white authorities’ brutal treatment of her young black friend, Daniel. Later, the adult Reinette salves her white guilt as a history teacher in an all-black school. Determined to teach her students their own history, Reinette seeks out Samuel, a famous shaman who chooses Reinette as the apprentice to whom he will impart the oral tradition of generations, with predictably tragic consequences.

In what is essentially a solo turn, Wallace frequently outstrips her plot’s implausibility, and she is ably accompanied by authentic South African tribal performers Casey Kunene and Sibongile J. Mtimkulu, who help establish an effectively mystical ambience, as does Kathi O’Donohue’s understated lighting. Under Rick Wal-lace’s astute direction, the production is elegantly spare, as is Wallace, a slender, striking storyteller whose patchy tale is nonetheless well-rendered.

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* “The Ancients of Zimbabwe,” Laurelgrove Theater, 12265 Ventura Blvd., Suite 209, Studio City. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Ends July 29. $15. (818) 760-8368. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.