Sizwe Banzi is Dead
Madhvi Ramani reviews the touring South African play, on at the National Theatre March 19th till April 4th, that broke cultural barriers in its creation over thirty years ago.
Award-winning actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona appear together once again in 'Sizwe Banzi is Dead' at the National Theatre, more than thirty years after they first performed the play at The Space, Cape Town. The actors collaborated with one of South Africa’s most distinguished dramatists, Athol Fugard , to write the play.
Despite its historic political plot, the play does not fail to engage today’s audience. It begins in the photo studio of Styles (Kani) and tells the story of Sizwe (Ntshona), who must swap his dompas - the reference book that black people had to carry in apartheid-era South Africa - with that of a dead man in order to survive.
Perhaps it is the play’s unique beginnings, which broke down barriers between black actors and white writer, that contributes to its interactive spirit.
When Kani walks onto stage, the lights are not dimmed. There is no ‘fourth wall’ erected between the stage and the auditorium. He gives an energetic, hip-swinging performance as Styles, provoking hysterical laughter from the audience that he addresses directly. He engages in playful banter with members of the public, at times inviting individuals up onto stage, and thus toys with the improvisational nature in which the play was created.
During Styles’ hilarious monologue, he explains how his work as a photographer breaks down the barrier between words and images. His photographs become records, fulfilling the traditional function of text: “Walk into the houses of New Brighton and on the walls you’ll find hanging the story of the people the writers of the big history books forget about.”
After Sizwe comes to Styles’ studio, he is only able to tell his-story when the camera clicks and the spotlight flashes onto him. Ntshona’s quieter performance channelled more through his face and body, contrasts with Kani’s verbosity. This paralinguistic approach conveys the fact that Ntshona’s character, as repeatedly stated in the drama, cannot read, whereas the two characters that Kani plays, are literate.
As Sizwe’s story unravels, powerful emotions are evoked - not only due to the distressing indignities revealed at the socio-political level of the drama, but, moreover, because we empathise with the character’s existential dilemma.
When Sizwe’s friend, Buntu (Kani), monotonously explains the dizzyingly complex bureaucratic system that they are trapped in, and as we watch Styles’ frenzied imitation of the repetitive motions of the factory line, we are overcome with the familiar frightening feeling that we too are tiny entities in a world that we cannot understand nor control. In fact, the backdrop of Port Elizabeth that Styles pulls down in his studio, a grey row of high-rise bank and business buildings, could be London – or indeed any city in the world today.
At the heart of 'Sizwe Banzi is Dead', is the universal theme of identity. When Bantu explains that Sizwe must take on the identity of a dead man, Robert, in order to survive, Sizwe’s reaction, “I cannot lose my name”, is reminiscent of John Proctor’s desperate cries to save his name in 'The Crucible'. If one loses one’s name, does one simply become a ghost? It is a chilling spectacle to watch and listen to Sizwe memorising his new dompas number - the loss of his name is dehumanising and humiliating.
Ultimately, the play asks the question - repeatedly raised by Sizwe, Styles, and Bantu during its course - “What does it mean to be a man?” It is this query that transcends the barrier of the final curtain, and continues to echo in one’s mind after the play has finished.
'Sizwe Banzi is Dead' is on at the Lytellton Theatre at the National from March 19th until April 4th.