At This Stage by
As South Africa continues to advance towards the fulfilment of its visionary constitution, significant shifts in the mode, style, and theme of its nation’s theater have begun to take hold. The four plays in this collection, by Lara Foot Newton, Mike van Graan, Motshabi Tyelele, and Craig Higginson, offer insights into an emerging national identity. The primary themes explored in the four texts—reconciliation, matriarchy, justice, accountability, corruption, truth, memory, and violence—reflect on the challenges and questions South Africans are confronted with in their nascent democratic state. In the two essays that complement this anthology, theater director Greg Homann argues that South African theater and her playwrights have surfaced into a new period, one that signals new themes and challenges. The mode of representation has shifted and the monological form we came to both loathe and love has dissipated to match a democratic society grappling with multiple points of view.
Reach / Lara Foot Newton -- Some mother's sons / Mike van Graan -- Shwele Bawo! / Motshabi Tyelele -- Dream of the dog / Craig Higginson.
Fools, Bells, and the Habit of Eating by
Cupidity, corruption and conciliation are the themes of the three plays in this collection: The Mother of all Eating, a one-hander, with its central character a corrupt Lesotho official, is a grinding satire on materialism in which the protagonist gets his come-uppance. You Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? is an unbridled study in grotesquerie, reflecting a belief, traceable throughout Mda’s work, that government by those who inherit a revolution is almost inevitably, in the first decade or two, hijacked by the smart operators. The Bells of Amersfoort, with its graphic portrayal of the isolation imposed by exile, picks up on the themes of the other two plays but adds to them the concept of "healing," both of the soul and of the land.
Happy Natives by
This is rich material for comedy, and Coetzee excels in using such theatrical techniques as the reversal of expectation and the revelation of the unexpected and the contradictory.
Love, Crime and Johannesburg by
"Why bother to rob a bank, when you can own a bank?" asked Bertold Brecht. The question is reiterated in the very Brechtian Love, Crime and Johannesburg, the story of Jimmy ‘Long Legs’ Mangane, a people’s poet involved in the struggle, who is accused of robbing a bank. He passionately asserts his innocence, claiming to work for the "secret secret service." Lewis, his old friend and comrade from the struggle, now owns a bank. How did this happen? The man of the struggle is now a man of accounts. A man of the nineties. Part of the cellphone generation. Added to the mix is an old-style gangster, two girlfriends, a Jewish father and a very unusual Chief of Police. Described as one of the first genuine post-apartheid plays, Love, Crime and Johannesburg is a witty, lighthearted account of life in the City of Gold at the turn of the millennium. A must for all students of South African theatre. Winner of the 2000 Vita Award for best script of a new South African Play.
Molora by
In this reworking of Aeschylus' Oresteia, Klytemnestra and Elektra face one another in a dramatic confrontation. Attempts to come to terms with their violent past echo testimonies delivered in Apartheid's wake throughout South Africa during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Aeschylus' chorus is replaced by Xhosa tribeswomen, who bring grace and humanity through their ancient art of split tone singing. Molora (the Sesotho word for 'ash') is an examination of vengeance, and the breaking of its cycles by the everyman.
Nothing but the Truth by
Service of the Engine is a common local Chichewa-English expression in the Malawian fishing village where the author did her fieldwork. It refers to the practice of taking various pills--known locally as Ciba--in order to prevent and cure diseases associated with sex. This study explores the sensitive interface between the use of pharmaceuticals, available through an extensive informal distribution system, and self-treatment of sex-related diseases.
The author examines morally sensitive situations in which men and women opt for Ciba, and evaluates its efficacy, or effectiveness. The discussion not only covers physical and metaphorical aspects of efficacy, but also the possible social and moral effects of medication. It offers a fresh and empirically grounded perspective on the links between efficacy, sex-related diseases and moralities.
Birgitte Bruun graduated from the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and is currently working with reproductive health projects for United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Plays of Miracle and Wonder by
From a truly groundbreaking voice in African theater, these three plays have disturbed and transported audiences in South Africa and abroad with their depictions of some uncomfortable episodes in South African history. From witch hunts in Kokstad and the saga of King Hintsa’s skull to the prophecies of Nongqawuse and the ensuing cattle-killing crisis, these plays touch on shared neuroses and fears, blending the tragic and transcendent with the farcical. With accompanying essays and working notes, the playwright gives background and insight into each of the productions and outlines his own artistic development and vision. This richly designed book re-creates something of the funky energy, haunting magic, and colorful imagery of the plays themselves.
Plays Two by
A farm lies in ruins. And with mother and father now gone, a brother and sister face eviction by an officious lawyer. Abandoned, they endlessly enact the rituals of punishment once visited upon them by their parents. Widely regarded as a milestone in South African theatre, the play African Gothic tells the story of their final danse macabre. Despite overwhelming critical acclaim, it was also fiercely condemned by Afrikaans conservatives as being a subversive portrayal of repression.
Good Heavens is a comedy thriller with the dark poetic heart of a folk-tale. Two spinster sisters, with their ailing mother and simple-minded brother, await the annual visit of their youngest sister. Deeply envious of her beauty and youth, they hatch a diabolical plot to rid themselves of her forever.
In Breathing In, on a stormy night in the last bitter months of the Second Anglo-Boer War, a seriously wounded General and his faithful Adjutant encounter a mysterious woman and her seductive other-worldly daughter, and are confronted with the subtle methods of survival these women have been forced to adopt. Accustomed to the rigours of war, the courageous Adjutant now faces a terrible choice.
Relativity by
Contemporary yet epic, this drama explores the underbelly of South African township life when a serial killer begins hunting down young women at night. Exploring moral ambiguity, the play also debunks the myth that people living in poverty and anguish inevitably find refuge in singing and dancing; they can also find it in religious fanaticism and, more damaging, in alcohol, sex, violence, and even murder.
Reza de Wet - Plays One by
The three plays Missing, Crossing and Miracle are folkloric and ostensibly native pieces of Afrikaner storytelling. All plays deal with the liberation of a character from an oppressive, matriarchal order and as such are eloquent and haunting expressions of the current generation of Afrikaner seeking to free itself from the Calvinist manacles of traditional Afrikanerdom.
Russian Trilogy by
The second volume of de Wet's plays brings together three pieces which takes as their inspiration the life and work of Anton Chekhov. Yelena uses the characters from Uncle Vanya. Three Sisters Two offers us a vision of the confusions and the collapse of value systems at times of revolution. Brothers looks at the Chekhov's relationships with his brothers.
The Free State by
This powerful version of Chekhov's famous drama of disillusionment, The Cherry Orchard, is set in rural South Africa on a farm producing cherry trees immediately after the restoration of democracy to South Africa in 1994. Within this context, alive with class conflict and racial tension, Chekhov's potent drama of domestic strife and relationships suddenly takes on a stark political reality.
Zulu Love Letter by
The 2004 film, Zulu Love Letter, won ten prestigious international awards and received over a dozen official invitations to premier international film festivals including the Venice International Film Festival (Venezia 61 orrizonti), Toronto International Film Festival, Fespaco (Burkina Faso), and the American Film Institute Los Angeles Festival, 2005.
Zulu Love Letter’s script, written by Bhekizizwe Peterson and Ramadan Suleman, is also a well-decorated article, having won the Special Jury Prize – Best Script 2001, at the Grand Prix du Meilleur Scenariste in Paris France.
Now, Wits University Press is proud to present the complete Peterson-Suleman screenplay.
Set against the backdrop of the success of the first democratic elections and the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Zulu Love Letter is a story of two mothers in search of their daughters. Thandeka Khumalo is challenged with mending her estranged relationship with her thirteen-year-old daughter, Simangaliso, who grew up with her grandparents because of Thandeka’s career and political commitments. Tormented by a sense of guilt and grief that refuses to wane, Thandeka is battling to adjust to the changes around her. Her melancholy soul is compelled to confront her experiences of detention and torture when ghosts from the past reappear. Me’Tau, the mother of a young activist whose assassination Thandeka witnessed and reported, wants Thandeka to help in finding the body of Dineo so that she can be given a fitting burial. For mourning to end and for healing to take place, the psychic demons that haunt the present must be recognized and exorcised.
Marking the ebb-and-flow of the adults’ attempts to deal with the historical inheritances of apartheid, is the “Love Letter” that Simangaliso is weaving as a gift to her mother. A colorful tapestry of beads, trinkets and buttons, the "Love Letter" encapsulates the power of the arts in fostering memory-work, healing and love.
Bra Gib by
This is an account of the life and work of Gibson Kente - fondly known to many as 'Bra Gib' - who is widely recognized to be South Africa's foremost black playwright and one of the leading cultural icons of his time. His prolific musical productions, staged between the mid-1960s to 2004, were enthusiastically received by township audiences throughout South Africa. Kente's touring township shows came to define South African township theatre and provided the base from which much black (and other) South African theatre was later to flourish. His work to date has been poorly documented and the records of all but one of his plays were lost in a fire. As the first definitive work on this talented, influential, and controversial man, Bra Gib comes to fill a gap that needed urgent addressing. Presented in two parts, it gives a chronological overview of Kente's plays and the popular and critical reaction to them, and it also includes anecdotal insights into the famous Kente working methods from those who knew and worked with him. Bra Gib offers a fascinating portrait of the multi-faceted man who was a playwright, teacher, musician, and entrepreneur - and does not shrink from engaging the controversies that surrounded Kente.
Little Foot by
"A group of friends who were at school together decide to spend the night in some underground caves that are part of the Cradle of Humankind network, thirty miles outside of Johannesburg. The oldest pre-human remains have been found there, including a three-million-year-old hominin called Little Foot. As the group go deeper into the caves, and their ancient history emerges, forces are unleashed between them and around them that appear to have tragic consequences. Part realism, part nightmare, acclaimed South African playwright Craig Higginson's play takes us on an unforgettable journey into our unconscious ancestral memory"--Cover.
Everyone else (is fucking perfect)
Fools, bells, and the habit of eating: three satires
Iago's last dance: a trilogy of plays
Imadlalo kaZakes Mda: isiXhosa
In the blue beaker: a comedy about suicide
Johnny Boskak is feeling funny, and other plays
K Sello Duiker's The quiet violence of dreams: adapted for the stage
Living in strange lands: the testimony of Dimitri Tsafendas
MacBeki: a farce to be reckoned with
Relativity: "township stories"
The boy who fell from the roof
The boy who walked into the world
Thuthula: heart of the labyrinth
