JUST how relevant in contemporary South Africa is the current Market Theatre production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead?
The play was co-written by John Kani and Winston Ntshona, and directed by theatre legend Athol Fugard in the 1970s.
It has since been performed on several stages in the country and abroad and was acclaimed as a masterpiece in the 1970s because of its political relevance and for the way it was written and directed.
Dealing with issues generally affecting black migrant workers during a period when blacks were strictly required to carry passbooks and have special permission to live in certain urban areas, the play carries all the cultural nuances defining black life of the time.
The play, set in Styles' Photographic Studio (acted by Omphile Molusi as photographer), follows Sizwe's (a role played by TV and stage veteran Arthur Molepo) quest for survival in the Port Elizabeth of the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Sizwe has been caught without a passbook and must return to King William's Town to his poverty-stricken family or take a chance that could force him to abandon his given name and sense of identity. He is forced to rethink what he believes makes up a man's identity.
Fantastically directed by Monageng Vice Motshabi, it takes the audience into one man's moral dilemma. Sizwe has to deal with his own conscience as he is offered two alternatives.
He has to assume a new identity by using a dead person's passbook or go back home without money or employment and face his poor family.
The dead man's passbook has the right permit and is therefore a ticket for Sizwe to continue living in Port Elizabeth without the threat of police harassment and arrest. He chooses, with much difficulty, to assume the dead man's identity.
And ye, to go back to the question I poised earlier - yes Sizwe Banzi is Dead is relevant in a new South African set-up mainly because of the humorous way in which the events of earlier times are interpreted.
And also those old enough to have outlived apartheid can now reflect on a lived experience in a new society.
The only time the play showed some directing weakness was an episode that showed Sizwe sloshed. It dragged on for too long, making one think it was a play about drunkenness.
The play will run until February 20.
Play carries cultural nuances defining black life
JUST how relevant in contemporary South Africa is the current Market Theatre production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead?
The play was co-written by John Kani and Winston Ntshona, and directed by theatre legend Athol Fugard in the 1970s.
It has since been performed on several stages in the country and abroad and was acclaimed as a masterpiece in the 1970s because of its political relevance and for the way it was written and directed.
Dealing with issues generally affecting black migrant workers during a period when blacks were strictly required to carry passbooks and have special permission to live in certain urban areas, the play carries all the cultural nuances defining black life of the time.
The play, set in Styles' Photographic Studio (acted by Omphile Molusi as photographer), follows Sizwe's (a role played by TV and stage veteran Arthur Molepo) quest for survival in the Port Elizabeth of the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Sizwe has been caught without a passbook and must return to King William's Town to his poverty-stricken family or take a chance that could force him to abandon his given name and sense of identity. He is forced to rethink what he believes makes up a man's identity.
Fantastically directed by Monageng Vice Motshabi, it takes the audience into one man's moral dilemma. Sizwe has to deal with his own conscience as he is offered two alternatives.
He has to assume a new identity by using a dead person's passbook or go back home without money or employment and face his poor family.
The dead man's passbook has the right permit and is therefore a ticket for Sizwe to continue living in Port Elizabeth without the threat of police harassment and arrest. He chooses, with much difficulty, to assume the dead man's identity.
And ye, to go back to the question I poised earlier - yes Sizwe Banzi is Dead is relevant in a new South African set-up mainly because of the humorous way in which the events of earlier times are interpreted.
And also those old enough to have outlived apartheid can now reflect on a lived experience in a new society.
The only time the play showed some directing weakness was an episode that showed Sizwe sloshed. It dragged on for too long, making one think it was a play about drunkenness.
The play will run until February 20.
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