Sizwe Banzi is Dead

Last Tuesday night, some friends and I went to see ‘Sizwe Banzi is Dead’ at the National Theatre.

If you haven't heard of it, the play was first performed in 1972 in Cape Town, written by a white South African playwright, Athol Fugard and two black South African actors, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, who played the two lead roles. They then took the play to London where it won the London Theatre Critics award for the best play of 1974 and has become one of South Africa's most important plays. The play explores the effects that controls such as the 'pass law' had on South Africans during apartheid.

The extraordinary thing about the production we saw was that it starred the original actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona playing their parts, 35 years after the first performance. They were phenomenal. I wonder how many times they have performed the play. They wrote it when they were affected by the oppressive laws that the play addresses. Writing the play was an act of defiance against the cruel apartheid regime and they have seen the play becoming an icon of the struggle. They have also seen South Africa become a democracy. Their performance was full of passion and you can tell that this play is part of them. I feel privileged to have seen them.

As I sat on the top deck of the bus going home after the play, I thought about some of the questions the play generates.

Questions of autonomy. How important is my name? How important is my identity? And for what would I give it up?

Also of freedom. I have had it all my life. I can go where I like. Do what I want. I have never had to question it. But this is not the case for many people all around the world. Oppressive regimes continue. And I shouldn’t take my freedom for granted.

I am going to take the easy option and end this post here. I don’t have any groundbreaking comments to say about this issue. All I can say is that I am thinking about it and where my role lies in the bigger picture. If nothing else, I at least aim to not be ignorant about what is going on and what has happened in recent times.

And if you haven’t seen or read the play, please do. It is brilliant.