Sizwe Banzi Is Dead

Infobox Play
name = Sizwe Banzi Is Dead


image_size = 200
caption = Poster for the 2007 Royal National Theatre production
writer = Athol Fugard
John Kani
Winston Ntshona
characters = Styles
Robert (Sizwe Banzi)
mute =
setting =
date of premiere = 1972
country of Origin = South Africa
original language =
series =
subject =
genre =
web =
playbill_event =
ibdb_id = 8066

"Sizwe Banzi Is Dead" (originally produced and published as: "Sizwe Bansi is Dead") is a play by Athol Fugard, written collaboratively with two South African actors, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, both of whom appeared in the original production. Its world première occurred on October 8, 1972, in Cape Town, South Africa, and its British première won a London Theatre Critics Award for the Best Play of 1974.fact|date=October 2008 Its American première occurred at the Edison Theatre, in New York City, on 13 November 1974.Ibdb show|8066|Sizwe Banzi Is Dead. Accessed 1 Oct. 2008.]

Plot synopsis

The play opens with a 45-minute long monologue in which Styles, the owner of a photography studio, addresses the audience about his previous employment in a menial job at the Ford factory, his obedience to the wishes of his white boss, and his decision to break away and fulfill his dreams by opening the studio. He also tells of the people who can live out their own dreams by coming to him to get a photograph that makes them happy, even if only for just a moment.

Styles is interrupted by the arrival of Robert in his new suit and hat, who wants a picture to send home to his wife. What quickly unfolds via flashback is that Robert actually is Sizwe Banzi, who had an incorrect stamp in his passbook, a government document blacks were required to carry, that wouldn't allow him to stay in Port Elizabeth. He rails against a system that, by forcing him to return to a township where there was no work, would deprive him of caring for his family. He realizes that in order to stay, he must change his identity. The opportunity to do so presents itself when he and friend Buntu discover a corpse and they swap the man's passbook with Sizwe's to enable him to enact his plan. Robert lives, and Sizwe Banzi is dead.

Critical account of play's genesis

According to Marie Rose Napierkowski, in "Drama for Students" (Detroit: Gale, 2006; "eNotes.com"):

The genesis of "Sizwe Bansi Is Dead" can be traced to Fugard’s experiences as a law clerk at the Native Commissioner’s Court in Johannesburg. At that time it was required that every black and colored citizen over the age of sixteen carried [sic] an identity book that restricted employment and travel within in the country. In court, Fugard saw the repercussions of this law: blacks were sent to jail at an alarming rate. Although these restrictions are specifically South African, critics have noted that the play’s greater theme of identity is universal. Critics and scholars have also observed that "Sizwe Bansi Is Dead" contains elements of absurdism, especially its sparse setting and surreal subject matter.cite journal|url=http://www.enotes.com/sizwe-banzi/27519|title="Sizwe Banzi Is Dead": Introduction"|author=Marie Rose Napierkowski, ed.|journal=Drama for Students|volume=14 (January 2006)|location=Detroit|publisher=Gale, eNotes.com|accessdate=2008-10-01 . (Free excerpt; registration required for full access.)]

Production history

In 1972, Fugard directed the play's world premiere in Cape Town, followed the next year by a staging at London's Royal Court Theatre which transferred to the Ambassadors, with Kani as Styles and Buntu and Ntshona as Robert/Sizwe. There, it won the The London Theatre Critics award. After six previews, the Broadway production, presented in repertory with "The Island", opened on 13 November 1974 at the Edison Theatre, where it ran for 159 performances.Ibdb show|8066|Sizwe Banzi Is Dead Accessed 1 Oct. 2008.]

Kani and Ntshona jointly won Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play for their performances in both "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead" and "The Island".fact|date=October 2008 They reunited for the production staged at the Royal National Theatre in London in 2007.cite web|url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=21346|title=Sizwe Banzi Is Dead|accessdate=2008-10-01] That year the play was translated into French by Marie-Hélène Estienne for a version staged by Peter Brook at the Barbican Centre.fact|date=October 2008

For its first Middle Eastern production, "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead" was staged at The Mousetrap Theatre, at the New English School, in Jabriya, a popular suburb of Kuwait, with Abdalla Ali as Sizwe/Robert, Charbel Rached as Styles, and Mohamed Mostafa as Buntu.fact|date=October 2008

Awards and nominations

*Tony Award for Best Play (co-nominee with "The Island")
*Tony Award for Best Actor in Play (Kani and Ntshona, winners)
*Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (nominee)
*Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play (Kani and Ntshona, co-nominees)
*Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play (nominee)
*Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Foreign Play (co-nominee with "The Island")

Notes

References

*Soloski, Alexis. [http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-04-15/theater/the-line-worker/ "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead" Remains Alive: A Great Play Bids Its Farewell at BAM"] . "The Village Voice" 15 Apr. 2008. Accessed 1 Oct. 2008. (Rev. of production at the Harvey Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York.)

External links

*Ibdb show|8066|Sizwe Banzi Is Dead.