Poster for the 2000 Royal National Theatre production
The Island is a play written by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona.
The apartheid-era drama, inspired by a true story, is set in an unnamed prison clearly based on South Africa's notorious Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held for twenty-seven years. It focuses on two cellmates, one whose successful appeal means that his release draws near and one who must remain in prison for many years to come. They spend their days performing futile physical labor and nights rehearsing in their cell for a performance of Sophocles' Antigone in front of the other prisoners. One takes the part of Antigone, who defies the laws of the state to bury her brother, and the other takes the part of her uncle Creon, who sentences her to die for her crime of conscience. The play draws parallels between Antigone's situation and the situation of black political prisoners. Tensions arise as the performance approaches, especially when one of the prisoners learns that he has won an early release and the men's friendship is tested.
Structure[edit]
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Athol Fugard Written Works
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The play has four scenes. It opens with a lengthy mimed sequence in which John and Winston, two cell mates imprisoned on Robben Island, shovel sand in the scorching heat, dumping the sand at the feet of the other man, so that the pile of the sand never diminishes. This is designed to exhaust the body and the morale of the prisoners. Later scenes include a play within a play, as Winston and John perform a condensed two-person version of Antigone by Sophocles.
History[edit]
The play was first performed in Cape Town, at a theatre called The Space, in July 1973. In order to evade the draconian censorship in South Africa at the time (plays dealing with prison conditions, etc., were prohibited), the play premiered under the title, Die Hodoshe Span. It was next staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London, with John Kani and Winston Ntshona portraying John and Winston respectively. The Broadway production, presented in repertory with Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, opened on November 24, 1974 at the Edison Theatre, where it ran for 52 performances.
Athol Fugard Plays
In an unusual move, Kani and Ntshona were named co-Tony Award nominees (and eventual co-winners) for Best Actor in a Play for both The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead.
Over the next thirty years, Kani and Ntshona periodically performed in productions of the play. Notable among them were the Royal National Theatre in 2000 [1], reported at the time as their final production, although they went on to star at the Old Vic in 2002 [2] and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2004 [3].
Plot[edit]
John and Winston share a prison cell on an unnamed Island. After another day of hard labor and having been forced to run while shackled and then beaten, they return to their cell. They tend each other's wounds, share memories of times at the beach and rehearse for the prisoner-performed concert which is imminent. They are going to perform a scene from an abridged version of Antigone by Sophocles. John will play Creon and Winston will play Antigone.
When he sees himself in his costume, Winston tries to pull out of playing a female role, fearing he will be humiliated. John is called to the governor's office. He returns with news that his appeal was successful and his ten-year sentence has been commuted to three years: he will be free in three months. Winston is happy for him. As they imagine what leaving prison and returning home will be like, Winston begins to unravel. He doubts why he ever made a stand against the regime, why he even exists. Having said it, he experiences a catharsis, and accepts that he must endure.
The final scene is their performance of Antigone. After John-as-Creon sentences Winston-as-Antigone to be walled up in a cave for having defied him and done her duty towards her dead brother, Winston pulls off Antigone's wig and yells 'Gods of Our Fathers! My Land! My Home! Time waits no longer. I go now to my living death, because I honored those things to which honor belongs'. The final image is of John and Winston, chained together once more, running hard as the siren wails.
Characters[edit]
John has been imprisoned for belonging to a banned organization.
Winston, we find out later was imprisoned for burning his passbook in front of the police. This was a serious crime, as the passbook was used to segregate and control the South African people.
Hodoshe, an unseen character: he is referred to and represented by the sound of a prison whistle. He is a symbol of the apartheid state and racist rule. The literal translation for Hodoshe is 'carrion fly' (as mentioned in the play), a large green fly.
Themes[edit]
Obedience and civil disobedience
Brotherhood
Freedom – bodily freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom of the mind
Memory, imagination, and the transformative power of performance
Language[edit]
Although the play is in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa words are spoken as well.
Broadway awards and nominations[edit]
Tony Award for Best Play (co-nominee with Sizwe Banzi)
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 Sizwe Banzi)
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Island_(play)&oldid=980222978'
'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' was written by Athol Fugard and coauthored by John Kani and Winston Ntshona, the two actors who originally appeared in the play as Styles and Sizwe Bansi. The world premiere of the play occurred in 1972 at the Space Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa. The play provides a view into the social and political racism experienced by black South Africans in the 1970s, although the type of suppression and persecution depicted in the play was present well before the 1970s and would continue into the future.
'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' tells the story of Styles, an intelligent, capable, and talented man who leaves his job as a factory worker to follow his dream of owning a photography studio. Styles pursues his talent with a camera in order to preserve the faces and identities of his people, who would otherwise be forgotten by the rest of the world. The play also tells the story of Sizwe Bansi, a man condemned by his government to a life of poverty. Although he is willing and capable of work, the stamp in his government issued “passbook” refuses him a work permit and tells him that he must leave Port Elizabeth and return to his hometown of King William’s Town where there are no work opportunities. This government edict will, in all probability, result in the starvation of Sizwe and his family. Sizwe is taken in by a man named Buntu after he is discovered in a government raid. Sizwe hopes that Buntu will figure out some way for him to remain in Port Elizabeth and find a job to support his family, but Buntu can read and when he looks at Sizwe’s passbook he sees that he is three days past due in his return home. He knows Sizwe has no chance of finding a job or remaining in Port Elizabeth with the stamps in his book. However, Sizwe discovers a passbook belonging to a dead man and, after struggling with his decision to give up his own name, decides to adopt the identity of Robert Zwelinzima. The adoption of this new identity ensures that Sizwe will be able to look for a job and provide for his family.
Athol Fugard Background
In the early scenes of the play, Styles’s musings are interrupted by the entrance of a man named Robert Zwelinzima, who has come to have his picture taken so that he can send it to his wife and children back home. Over the course of the rest of the play, it is revealed that Robert Zwelinzima is actually Sizwe Bansi living under the new identity he has adopted. Just as Sizwe Bansi is forced to essentially “kill” himself in order to preserve his life and the life of his family, his story illustrates the ghostly existence of the black population of South Africa. They are told who they are, where to live, and how to live, by a book developed and stamped by white men. They are forced to give up their dignity and humanity in order to continue to exist. They are constantly treated as less than human and are certainly never given the respect they deserve. However, Styles’s motivation for his photography preserving the faces and memory of his people makes it clear that the taking of Sizwe Bansi’s portrait is a moment of hope and triumph. Sizwe Bansi has been forced to alter his name and identity in order to provide for his family, but this photo taken by Styles preserves him forever as both Sizwe Bansi and Robert Zwelinzima. It reveals that he is indeed a human being with an identity and a history. This photo will preserve his name and his life for the generations to come.
The Island By Athol Fugard Pdf Download
The story told in 'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' explores the themes of identity, self-worth, racism, and suppression. The passbook that every black man is forced to carry is the foundation for this question of identity. The passbook imposes limits on the employment and travel of all black citizens in South Africa. It takes away their freedom, making them less than men. Their entire lives are contained in this passbook, and with a single stamp one white man can totally alter a black man’s future and determine his fate. The characters depicted in the play struggle to maintain their own identities and sense of themselves as human beings under this oppressive rule. Within these circumstances, however, Styles, Sizwe, and Buntu realize that all they own is themselves. The only legacy they have to leave behind is the memory of their lives, so they strive to be the best men they can be and live the best lives they can. They show themselves to be far better men than their white “Baases” because they realize the value of human life and the sacredness of identity.