Original/Major Show Productions



  • Original production in 1983 at the Market Theatre. Original Cast included Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa. 

  • First performances had roughly 70 or so audience members, but these numbers grew along with the growing exposure.
  • Soon after its origin, the play was picked up and produced at the City College of New York.
    • This production was held in 1988 in Davis Hall
    • This production starred South African actor-musicians Fana Kekana and Tsepo Mokone
  • A more unsettling production was found via a Theatre4Youth site with a south african domain. ZikkaZimba advertised its production with "Two white lads, Tim Redpath of the acclaimed Prodigal & Mouche and comic genius Ryan Dittmann"


  • The most popular reproduction of the show was produced 30 years after the original with the same cast and the same venue. 
    • On opening night the air conditioning unit quit working and the audience and actors alike were forced to suffer the heat. This accident only added to the atmosphere selling the time and place to which the story transports its onlookers.
  • Currently there is a production running at the South African State Theatre
    • this production also retains the original cast
  • Since the play has most successfully been produced with the same two actors that were responsible for the original devising that lead to this work, it begs the question: Will this play die along with its cast? Would it even be appropriate to carry out a production with actors that were not alive to witness the detriment to society that apartheid created?





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