On Stage: 'Sizwe Banzi' is alive

12 December 2014 - 02:07 By Percy Mabandu
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DOMPAS DRAMA: Atandwa Kani and Mncedisi Shabangu play characters who must negotiate the absurdities of apartheid laws
DOMPAS DRAMA: Atandwa Kani and Mncedisi Shabangu play characters who must negotiate the absurdities of apartheid laws

The Tony award-winning play Sizwe Banzi is Dead, on at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, is a triumph.

The two-man play starring Atandwa Kani and Mncedisi Shabangu was originally staged in 1972 featuring John Kani and Winston Ntshona. It is a South African classic written collaboratively with Athol Fugard.

During the madness of apartheid, as artists worked to give form to the meaninglessness of the law's demands on life, Sizwe Banzi is Dead became a fitting theatrical response in a Kafkaesque tradition. It describes the horribly complicated bureaucratic processes black people faced doing simple things such as applying for a job in the city.

In a tragi-comic way the play explores Sizwe Banzi's (Shabangu) troubles when he is required to leave the city, unable to legally find lodgings, a job or walk the streets without the danger of being arrested because his passbook, or dompas, doesn't have the right stamp of approval.

While living "illegally" in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, he goes on a night of binge-drinking with a friend, Mr Buntu (Kani). It is during their drunken walk back to Buntu's house that they discover the murdered body of a man named Robert Zwelinzima. Killed by unknown assailants in the night, his murder will certainly go unaccounted for, as often happened to black people during apartheid.

Banzi and Buntu discover the dead Zwelinzima's passbook and learn that it is in order. He is a mine labourer. An argument ensues. Should Banzi, who desperately needs a stamp in his passbook to remain and work in Port Elizabeth, steal the unknown dead man's identity? What happens to his own name when he assumes Zwelinzima's identity? What about his wife and four children back home, who depend on him for their livelihood?

The underlying message speaks to the difficulties of being committed to responsible lawful citizenship in the face of an absurd universe. It's an exploration of the internal psychological crisis that emerges in a man when the law of the land cannot be relied on for ethical living, but he nevertheless feels obligated to act morally.

Kani and Shabangu give a riveting performance worthy of the material. There are, however, moments when viewers may feel young Kani is channelling his predecessor in the role and biological father, as opposed to playing the part as himself. It is a forgivable vice. This is a must-see production.

  • 'Sizwe Banzi is Dead' shows at the Market Theatre until December 14, 2014.
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