Sizwe Banzi is Dead Comes to Life

Sizwe Banzi is Dead
by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona
directed by Ron OJ Parson

The play begins with a monologue from a man, Styles (played by Chiké Johnson), who is trying hard to self-actualize in a South Africa governed by the oppressive apartheid system.  He wants what every man wants, freedom to guide his own destiny, but in a system that is built on keeping people in line, in check, his aspirations could appear to be insurmountable.  But Styles is an optimistic and cheerful guy and he delivers this optimism through playful banter and amusing storytelling.  You like Styles and everything he represents—he’s uncharacteristically happy even though you realize that his circumstances are quite different.  He’s a fighter and he marches to his own beat, very direct and pointed with his conversation ensuring that you get and understand what he means.

There is a lot of energy bandied about this sparsely adorned stage, with the actors using every inch of the stage like it is a skating rink, gliding boundlessly back and forth from corner to corner leaving nothing untouched.  This energy makes the tempo of the play upbeat and invites the audience to pay attention.  And when the story shifts and develops and we are introduced to the central conflict, a unique bond between Buntu (played by Chiké Johnson) and Sizwe Banzi (played by Allen Gilmore) emerges and the audience becomes mesmerized and charged up by a raw, unadulterated performance that is simply breathtaking.  Johnson and Gilmore make you believe that their characters are really friends by the give and take littered throughout their exchanges.  Here we see the great depth of humanity unfold and how two lives become so haplessly intertwined.  Sizwe Banzi is a stranger in a strange place, a man with plenty of trouble.  He is shy, unsure of himself, not gregarious like Styles.  He is foreboding given his recent troubles.  Buntu, who is strong, self-assured, a realist and knows how to navigate the system, throws Sizwe Banzi a lifeline, which solidifies their friendship and sets the stage for his role as teacher and guardian angel.

The mixture of dialogue between these two characters is rich and comical and as their relationship develops, Buntu is able to breakdown the shy, reserved Sizwe and opens him up to reveal his true, affable self.  Sizwe is still not as self-assured as Buntu his character likeable and his situation engenders sympathy.  He delivers well-reasoned counterpoints to Buntu’s continued reality checks, but at the end Banzi’s idealism gives in to his teacher’s pragmatism.  These two just click, so much so that they end up going to a bar to have a good time.  This is where the characters draw the audience into the action, moving up and down the aisles, talking to the audience with very rhythmic exchanges that invokes a great deal of laughter and makes you feel like you are a patron at Sky Bar, in South Africa, with your very own passbook stamped by a Afrikaner. 

The story is a roller coaster ride of emotions, from laughter to dark themes that present themselves at the right place and time.  They catapult the story to an unpredictable twist and turn that raises the dramatic quotient and gives the audience something to look forward to; something to expect and setup a fait accompli.

Buntu and Sizwe don’t disappoint when faced with a decision of paramount importance, a life-altering decision that challenges Sizwe to explore the depth of his identity and the value it has to his and his family’s survival.  An event that could be fortuitous compels Sizwe and Buntu to debate morality and these actors convincingly deliver performances that resonate.  Sizwe faces this dilemma with a mixture of reluctant acceptance, trying to find all the reasons to delay the inevitable but relinquishes to the needs of his family and their collective survival.

Towards the climatic close, there is a riveting moment, where Sizwe puts forth his machismo, trying to stand firm and convince the audience and himself of his “manhood.”  This is not how I remember it as a teen in Boston, where the scene played out in more graphic detail, but nonetheless, his impassioned explanation and descriptive references convincingly establishes that he is in fact a “man” regardless of his circumstances.  It is a moving, compelling and lingering moment.

In the end, this is a story about dignity; conforming; fear, denial; reluctant acceptance and strength. It is also a story about perseverance and friendship.  Sizwe Banzi is Dead, the title, is a misnomer because in fact Sizwe Banzi, the person, comes to life at the Court Theatre where you’ll see the resurrection of manhood in a place, pre-Mandela led South Af-free-ka, hell bent on stripping manhood away.

By Larry D. Wayne

Sizwe Banzi is Dead continues through June 13, 2010 at Court Theatre.