Siphiwo Mahala delves into the lives of iconic figures from South Africa's tumultuous past in this remarkable collection of plays. The collection opens with The House of Truth, which explores the complexity of Can Themba, a fearless journalist, playwright and poet living under an oppressive apartheid regime. The one-man play weaves together elements of Themba's life and career, recreating the excitement and pathos of the DRUM era South Africa's first magazine for a black audience, and his resident neighborhood, Sophiatown in Johannesburg, before it was destroyed by apartheid legislation. Themba is brought back to life as an ordinary person with human flaws and attributes both tragic and inspirational. In the second play, Bloke and His American Bantu. Mahala brings to life the extraordinary lives of Bloke Modisane, a South African writer exiled in London, and Langston Hughes, the renowned American poet. This two-hander play celebrates their remarkable camaraderie and intellectual exchange. Through a reimagined correspondence, the play deftly explores how a simple friendship blossomed into a catalyst for international solidarity and cultural exchange across continents, from Africa to the UK to America. As a whole, the plays explore the intersections of identity, creativity and resistance. With wit, poise, and unflinching honesty, they bring to life the triumphs and struggles of these remarkable men who left an indelible mark on their worlds, and celebrate the human spirit's capacity to persevere, inspire and uplift.
Siphiwo Mahala is an award-winning short story writer, novelist, playwright and literary critic. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg and a research fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. He is the editor of Imbiza Journal for African Writing.
Foreword: 'They Cannot Destroy a People's Experience' by Shane Graham Acknowledgements Introduction The House of Truth Press clippings Glossary and translations Notes on staging The House of Truth: The Playscript Bloke and His American Bantu Press clippings Glossary and translations Notes on staging Bloke and His American Bantu: The Playscript
Two plays that follow the writers Can Themba, Bloke Modisane and Langston Hughes based in the DRUM era of 1950s Johannesburg.
Siphiwo Mahala does not simply write the archive; he animates it. This work is an act of poetic remembrance, a homage to history, and a testament to the enduring power of storytelling. His plays, Bloke and His American Bantu and The House of Truth, transcend mere performances to become vibrant acts of preservation, revitalising the memories of South African heroes and the worlds they inhabited. Through poetic language, meticulous research, and skilful dramaturgy, Mahala gifts us a theatre that is not only reflective but reparative. - Refiloe Lepere, lecturer, researcher, director, playwright and drama therapist. Siphiwo Mahala brings to life three luminaries of the 1950s and 1960s - Can Themba, Langston Hughes and Bloke Modisane - recreating for the stage their voices, their conversations, their joys and their sorrows. The scripts are a homage to the bonds of friendship and show how connections across class, nationality and geographic distance sustained black artists in their struggles to be creative in conditions of poverty, apartheid, and exile. - Lesley Cowling, Associate Professor at the Wits Centre for Journalism and co-editor of Babel Unbound: Rage, Reason and Rethinking Public Life.
