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The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Breakfast With Mugabe: biting political drama finally arrives in South Africa
I am standing outside the hallowed walls of the Market theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg. This is the place where Athol Fugard – surely the greatest of South African playwrights and one of my all-time theatre heroes – staged plays including Hello and Goodbye and The Island. The latter was co-written with fellow theatre greats, actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona. Now it's the turn of a little-known English writer and his play Breakfast With Mugabe. This is, as they say, one of the days of my life. In 2001 my script felt like urgent work. Elections loomed in Zimbabwe, and Robert Mugabe was reportedly unleashing terrible violence in his bid to cling to power. To many in the UK 'President Bob' had long been a monster. But what, I wondered, created the monster? The play finds Mugabe holed-up in State House, pursued by the bitter spirit of a long-dead comrade. Denied help by traditional healers, the former liberation leader reluctantly turns to a white psychiatrist. Cue the unravelling of history. Interest in Breakfast With Mugabe was immediate, and persistent. The late (and much missed) Antony Sher directed a Royal Shakespeare Company production that travelled from Stratford in 2005 via Soho theatre to the West End in 2006. An audio version flourished on BBC Radio 3 and the World Service; a second UK production followed, while in the US a production by Two Planks & A Passion (directed by David Shookhoff) clocked up 100 performances on New York's 42nd Street. Another production was staged in Berkeley. Since then, Mugabe has died and Zimbabwe bumps along in comparative peace. So a new production – especially in South Africa – came as a surprise. According to Greg Homann, the idea blossomed slowly. In 2022, Greg – whose theatre work spans the US, UK and South Africa – was associate artist at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham. Then his 'dream job' became a reality. Returning to South Africa as artistic director of the Market theatre, one of the first artists he encountered was a young director fast building a reputation as an innovative theatre-maker. Calvin Ratladi had, sometime in 2016, chanced on a copy of Breakfast With Mugabe. The play stuck with him; would the Market produce it? Sadly, that plan stalled. Then, earlier this year, Ratladi was named Standard Bank's young artist of the year for theatre. This award is quite a gong (its first winner was Richard E Grant). It brings with it support for a creative project – and an opportunity was glimpsed. If Ratladi still held a torch for his Mugabe project, the Market theatre would host. Remarkably, he was as keen as ever. A theatre polymath and renowned disability activist, for him this four-handed, pressure-cooker play of psychology and spirituality presented exciting new challenges. If this partly answers the 'why here, why now?' question, why do Ratladi and Homann think the play resonates in the new South Africa? For Homann, the play typifies the Market's longstanding commitment to 'an entwining of politics and theatre' – a tradition vital to the theatre's co-founders Barney Simon and Mannie Manim, and to one of the many playwrights they championed, Athol Fugard, who sadly died in March. Recent shows at the Market have examined the life and legacy of other significant South African figures, among them Winnie Mandela and Robert Sobukwe. As Ratladi points out, Breakfast With Mugabe extends this tradition; a play about a hero of the liberation movement – this time from outside South Africa, and one whose legacy is hotly contested. This is especially true among Zimbabweans, an estimated one to three million of whom now live in South Africa. Hearings into the Gukurahundi in Matabeleland in the mid 1980s have only just begun in earnest. In that massacre, Mugabe ordered his army's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to suppress his party's opponents. An estimated 20,000 Zimbabweans were murdered. At the production's first night in Johannesburg, it was clear the play retains its bite. Themba Ndaba and Craig Jackson lock the president and his shrink in a terrible struggle for supremacy; Gontse Ntshegang shines as the manipulative Grace Mugabe, drawing howls of laughter for her indiscretions as 'the First Shopper', while Zimbabwean-born Farai Chigudu exudes menace – and barely controlled violence – as the bodyguard/secret policeman, Gabriel. With the first three performances sold out, audiences (as audiences will in South Africa) whooped, gasped and sighed at every zinger or put-down – verbal or physical – delivered by the cast. I've been lucky. The play has almost always been well received by audiences as well as critics. In the US however, what I believed was a play about colonial culpability was celebrated as an essay on interracial conflict, pure and simple. Do Americans struggle to see their country implicated as a colonial power? In South Africa by contrast, it's the impact of colonial oppression that deafens. Post-liberation rewards – the justice so long awaited by black South Africans – never materialised for many. How the country's current government can ever deliver redress is a hot-button political issue for President Cyril Ramaphosa – and one critical to the future of South Africa's 63 million inhabitants. And what does Ratladi's unexpected, bracing new production offer the playwright? A lesson. Whatever we may think we've written, a play can – simply by shifting its context in time and space – make us think and feel something new. It is after all play – a living, unfolding, mutable thing. Like all true play, its punches do not always land where expected. Breakfast with Mugabe is at the Market theatre, Johannesburg, until 10 August
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Breakfast With Mugabe: biting political drama finally arrives in South Africa
I am standing outside the hallowed walls of the Market theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg. This is the place where Athol Fugard – surely the greatest of South African playwrights and one of my all-time theatre heroes – staged plays including Hello and Goodbye and The Island. The latter was co-written with fellow theatre greats, actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona. Now it's the turn of a little-known English writer and his play Breakfast With Mugabe. This is, as they say, one of the days of my life. In 2001 my script felt like urgent work. Elections loomed in Zimbabwe, and Robert Mugabe was reportedly unleashing terrible violence in his bid to cling to power. To many in the UK 'President Bob' had long been a monster. But what, I wondered, created the monster? The play finds Mugabe holed-up in State House, pursued by the bitter spirit of a long-dead comrade. Denied help by traditional healers, the former liberation leader reluctantly turns to a white psychiatrist. Cue the unravelling of history. Interest in Breakfast With Mugabe was immediate, and persistent. The late (and much missed) Antony Sher directed a Royal Shakespeare Company production that travelled from Stratford in 2005 via Soho theatre to the West End in 2006. An audio version flourished on BBC Radio 3 and the World Service; a second UK production followed, while in the US a production by Two Planks & A Passion (directed by David Shookhoff) clocked up 100 performances on New York's 42nd Street. Another production was staged in Berkeley. Since then, Mugabe has died and Zimbabwe bumps along in comparative peace. So a new production – especially in South Africa – came as a surprise. According to Greg Homann, the idea blossomed slowly. In 2022, Greg – whose theatre work spans the US, UK and South Africa – was associate artist at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham. Then his 'dream job' became a reality. Returning to South Africa as artistic director of the Market theatre, one of the first artists he encountered was a young director fast building a reputation as an innovative theatre-maker. Calvin Ratladi had, sometime in 2016, chanced on a copy of Breakfast With Mugabe. The play stuck with him; would the Market produce it? Sadly, that plan stalled. Then, earlier this year, Ratladi was named Standard Bank's young artist of the year for theatre. This award is quite a gong (its first winner was Richard E Grant). It brings with it support for a creative project – and an opportunity was glimpsed. If Ratladi still held a torch for his Mugabe project, the Market theatre would host. Remarkably, he was as keen as ever. A theatre polymath and renowned disability activist, for him this four-handed, pressure-cooker play of psychology and spirituality presented exciting new challenges. If this partly answers the 'why here, why now?' question, why do Ratladi and Homann think the play resonates in the new South Africa? For Homann, the play typifies the Market's longstanding commitment to 'an entwining of politics and theatre' – a tradition vital to the theatre's co-founders Barney Simon and Mannie Manim, and to one of the many playwrights they championed, Athol Fugard, who sadly died in March. Recent shows at the Market have examined the life and legacy of other significant South African figures, among them Winnie Mandela and Robert Sobukwe. As Ratladi points out, Breakfast With Mugabe extends this tradition; a play about a hero of the liberation movement – this time from outside South Africa, and one whose legacy is hotly contested. This is especially true among Zimbabweans, an estimated one to three million of whom now live in South Africa. Hearings into the Gukurahundi in Matabeleland in the mid 1980s have only just begun in earnest. In that massacre, Mugabe ordered his army's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to suppress his party's opponents. An estimated 20,000 Zimbabweans were murdered. At the production's first night in Johannesburg, it was clear the play retains its bite. Themba Ndaba and Craig Jackson lock the president and his shrink in a terrible struggle for supremacy; Gontse Ntshegang shines as the manipulative Grace Mugabe, drawing howls of laughter for her indiscretions as 'the First Shopper', while Zimbabwean-born Farai Chigudu exudes menace – and barely controlled violence – as the bodyguard/secret policeman, Gabriel. With the first three performances sold out, audiences (as audiences will in South Africa) whooped, gasped and sighed at every zinger or put-down – verbal or physical – delivered by the cast. I've been lucky. The play has almost always been well received by audiences as well as critics. In the US however, what I believed was a play about colonial culpability was celebrated as an essay on interracial conflict, pure and simple. Do Americans struggle to see their country implicated as a colonial power? In South Africa by contrast, it's the impact of colonial oppression that deafens. Post-liberation rewards – the justice so long awaited by black South Africans – never materialised for many. How the country's current government can ever deliver redress is a hot-button political issue for President Cyril Ramaphosa – and one critical to the future of South Africa's 63 million inhabitants. And what does Ratladi's unexpected, bracing new production offer the playwright? A lesson. Whatever we may think we've written, a play can – simply by shifting its context in time and space – make us think and feel something new. It is after all play – a living, unfolding, mutable thing. Like all true play, its punches do not always land where expected. Breakfast with Mugabe is at the Market theatre, Johannesburg, until 10 August
News24
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News24
Athol Fugard remembered at National Arts Fest with stellar performance of ‘The Island'
Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona's classic play The Island was performed at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda. The actors and director of the play said it was an honour to put on the production in memory of Fugard, especially with Kani present in Makhanda. The festival takes place from 26 June to 6 July 2025 in Makhanda, Eastern Cape. Fifty years ago, theatre legends Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona were honoured at the prestigious Tony Awards. Their double-bill The Island and Sizwe Banzi is Dead received nominations for Best Play and Direction of a Play, with Kani and Ntshona jointly winning the Best Actor award. The Island takes place in a prison inspired by Robben Island. Two cellmates prepare for a performance of Sophocles' Antigone. One cellmate learns that his sentence has been reduced from 10 to 3 years, with only a few months left to go. The other cellmate still has a long sentence ahead of him. The Island was performed at this year's National Arts Festival with Sizwe Banzi is Dead also on the programme. In light of Fugard's death, this felt like a very necessary programme inclusion, especially since he, Kani and Ntshona all hail from the Eastern Cape. READ | Aldo Brincat's 'The Moon Looks Delicious From Here' dazzles once again Director Xabiso Zweni and actors Fiks Mahola and Anele Penny brilliantly brought Fugard, Kani, and Ntshona's text alive once again and said it was an honour to perform it this year at NAF. Zweni said they originally wanted to do the play in commemoration of the Tony Award, not for Fugard's death. Kani was also in attendance at this year's arts festival. 'When he passed away, it gave the production such a boost that we wanted to commemorate him, his memory and the work he, John Kani and Winston Ntshona did during apartheid,' Zweni said. The director praised Fugard for being able to 'go into the township, work with talent and go overseas when the country's laws did not permit it.' 'That's why it's such a great honour to pay tribute to Athol Fugard.' Joel Ontong/News24 Zweni believes that though The Island is an apartheid-era play, the themes still resonate with modern audiences because of the brilliant storytelling. 'The work is timeless; they've written such a beautiful work. The themes of economy and equality will always resonate with younger people as well.' Zweni also said that Fugard was foundational to his theatre education, as with many other theatre makers in SA. 'He's always going to be there in the shadows as one of the fathers of South African theatre.' Actor Anele Penny, who plays Winston in The Island, said, 'Nobody fills anyone's shoes in theatre,' but they wanted to continue the legacy of their artistic predecessors. 'We feel very much honoured to do The Island, as well as Sizwe Banzi Is Dead next week,' he added. 'These doctors [referring to Fugard, Kani and Ntshona] are the pioneers of theatre,' Penny said. 'They represent us even today because some see the change, but others are still in the dark, looking for the change that was promised.' 'So it's a double celebration for the 50 years of the Tony Award and also saying farewell to Doctor Fugard,' Penny added. Actor Fiks Mahola, who plays John, also said being in the production is more than an honour. He continued: 'I left the entertainment industry, and I thought I successfully retired. Then someone said to me, 'I know your work ethic, I know your capabilities, I know what you can do, and I think you would be just right for this historic, monumental production'.' For him, it's particularly special to play John Kani's character. 'To now be portraying the character that he portrayed - it's almost overwhelming for me.'
News24
21-06-2025
- Politics
- News24
Opportunity for ‘reckoning and rebirth': Bathabile Dlamini defends National Dialogue
Former minister Bathabile Dlamini says the National Dialogue is an opportunity for 'reckoning, redirection and rebirth' for South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national convention will take place on15 August, guided by eminent figures like Dr John Kani and Siya Kolisi, costing an estimated R700 million. Dlamini emphasised citizens' participation in governance and highlighted societal challenges, such as broken family structures, as crucial issues to address. ANC veteran and former minister Bathabile Dlamini has defended the National Dialogue, saying South Africans should not miss this opportunity for 'reckoning, redirection and rebirth.' 'We must not forget that even after the apartheid state-sponsored violence, communities and organisations had to come together and build peace through dialogue processes,' she said. Dlamini took to the ANC's in-house newsletter, ANC Today, to express her support for the proposed National Dialogue. News24 previously reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national convention will take place on 15 August to pave the way for the National Dialogue. He also announced a group of eminent persons, including world-renowned actor Dr John Kani and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, to guide the dialogue. The Presidency was recently criticised for estimating that the dialogue would cost an estimated R700 million. Dlamini said dialogues proved that citizens were always involved in governance matters. 'Our family structure has drastically changed, and we have many broken families, child-headed households, single-parent families, and nuclear families that have separated young families from the support structures of older members of the family who used to pass norms, culture, and practice 'of the family to younger generations,' she added. 'The family structure that used to keep a strong bond is no longer there, or we have small remnants of the extended family. This is a discussion for another day.' Dlamini said every citizen had a role to play in shaping the future of South Africa. 'Government is us, citizens, and we also have a role to play in building a united democratic, non-racial, non-sexual and prosperous country.'
Daily Maverick
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Bitter Winter — Veteran playwright Paul Slabolepszy's ode to theatre and the art of acting
What goes into getting on stage under the theatre spotlights is what underpins this beautifully philosophical riff, not only on the theatre, but life itself. The setting is a waiting room with a broken coffee machine somewhere in downtown Johannesburg. On the walls are portraits of some of South Africa's acting greats. Household names John Kani, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, Bill Flynn and Leleti Khumalo. Two actors, a once-illustrious Afrikaans professional in his mid-70s and the other an up-and-coming young TV star/celebrity, are here for a callback for an audition for an American Western, Six Guns At Sesriem, to be filmed in South Africa. Paul Slabololepszy, or Paul Slab as we have pollarded his surname, has chronicled South African life for the stage since 1979. It has been a long and significant stretch in an industry as flighty and insecure as the nightly stagings that go dark at the end. He is regarded as the country's pre-eminent playwright after the late Athol Fugard and has a particular ear and genius for dialogue and character-driven drama/comedies. And humour, always the humour. Bitter Winter, now playing at the Baxter Studio until 14 June, is Slabolepszy's latest play, a 'love song' to the theatre, his 'second home' and a space for sharing the human experience with 'audiences hungry for connection'. Past, present, old, young Most theatre-going audiences see only the magic and the talent when the lights come up and a piece of drama, dance, poetry, opera or ballet comes to life. What goes into getting into that spotlight – not only getting there, but staying there in an industry as fraught with insecurity and exploitation as 'the arts' – is what underpins this beautifully philosophical riff, not only on the theatre, but on life itself. It is the veteran Shakespearean actor, Jean-Louis Lourens (André Odendaal), who arrives first on a freezing Joburg winter afternoon. Once the darling of the stage, Jean-Louis now rents a back room and survives on Theatre Benevolent Fund handouts and a Sassa grant. He has been called back to play the part of the grizzled sheriff in the movie. It is a part he needs, for the money, more than anything else. This is a man beyond the call of modern technology or fashion fads. You have to call a neighbour to get hold of him. He wears the same scuffed shirt, jacket and pants to all auditions. No quick fashion fads on his ageing and failing body. Odendaal's portrayal of the vulnerable older actor is searing in its authenticity. Drawing on his own vast experience, Odendaal knows this proud man, carrying on. This casting, the character believes, could be the role of a lifetime for the bargain-basement Clint Eastwood lookalike. Enter Prosper Mangane (Orabile Ditsele), vital, full of life, young, with dreams and ambition in 'the industry'. Ditsele is the perfect foil for Odendaal's fragile and failing self. He's a great storyteller, charismatic and cocksure of his future. Managing the process downtown is the run-off-her-feet Felicia Willemse (played with convincing harried avoidance by Chantal Stanfield), who brings news now and again of when the famous director will be arriving. Don't put your daughter on the stage The portrait of the late Shaleen Surtie-Richards on the stage set where the beloved actress so often played before her death at the age of 66 in June 2021, is a haunting reminder of the precariousness of life for those who follow this path. Surtie-Richards was a multi award-winning actress and beloved national treasure, but she had suffered with health issues for years and could not afford medical aid. This is an ongoing struggle for many in the industry, sadly neglected for years by the national government. Director Lesedi Job has provided a lively and paced discovery that takes place between Prosper and Jean-Louis, who, while they may be worlds apart in so many ways, are bound by their love of acting and storytelling. We learn that the creative arts throw up much candyfloss and confetti, but grinding hard work goes into making it happen. It is the irresistible attraction that the theatre, acting, and films hold for those who perform and those who consume it that keeps it going. The artist's life is not an easy one, but for those who master its demands, its shifting landscape, its financial risks, its capacity for depth and truth, it is the only one worth living. Slabolepszy, now in his 70s, has never lost the curiosity, the searching, the attempt to make sense of ordinary people in a less than ordinary world. A new play by this master is always a celebration and so worth the mirror it holds to society. DM Bitter Winter is on at The Golden Arrow Studio at The Baxter from 21 May to 14 June 2025. Performances are Tuesdays to Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm.
