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summerof09_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
peregrine22's review against another edition
3.0
rating this book lower because i dont like being forced to read things i am initially bored with and i generally rate books on enjoyment. the first half of the book, with styles, was quite confusing and a bit boring but when sizwe was introduced, i found myself more invested. i also think the play was an extremely powerful, artful protest against apartheid in south africa and there were lots of important themes
kefi's review against another edition
4.0
“Say what you want but you NEVER say it with violence!”
― Gerard Way
[a: Athol Fugard|7770|Athol Fugard|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1220823761p2/7770.jpg] is a South African playwright and author who is well known for writing protest plays that shine a spotlight on the injustices and effects of racism within South Africa.
Statements: three plays is a collection of two workshop productions (Sizwe Bansi is Dead; and The Island) that were devised by Fugard in conjunction with [a:John Kani|124414|John Kani|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a: Winston Ntshona], and also includes a ‘new’ play, Statements After an Arrest Under The Immorality Act, which was first performed in 1974.
The common theme that runs through all three plays is their portrayal of the unrighteous system of Apartheid that plagued South Africa during 1948 and 1994, as well as the impact that the system had on the lives of the people of the country. Each play looks at the lives of ordinary South Africans living under this system of racial oppression.
Sizwe Bansi is Dead features three characters: Styles (who, ironically, is in the memorial business – i.e. photography), Bantu, and Sizwe; and it deals with the impact that the Pass Laws, that were implemented in South Africa to limit the movements of black people, had on their lives. Certain areas, in South Africa, were earmarked as ‘white only’ areas and any black person who was in these areas had to have permission to be there (the permission was indicated in their pass books - which plays a critical role in this play). More often than not, the reason for a black person being in a white’s only area was to perform labour, which is the situation that the eponymous character finds himself in… until he loses his job and is faced with the problem of having to return home (where there is little to no work and a family that needs to be fed, or break the law and remain in an area where he is legally not permitted to be and face fines and imprisonment).
The scene where Bantu and Sizwe leave the shabeen is rather odd in how it is introduced and it is easy to feel annoyed while reading it, but it is perhaps one of the most important scenes in the play. There is no (in your face) violence in this play, but the play relies rather on humour and moral questioning (i.e. what makes an action morally reprehensible) to illustrate the horrors that many of the oppressed people had to endure. It illustrates poignantly the bureaucratic nuisances that black people had to endure just to survive. Apartheid was essentially a system that forced many people to make the choice of dying in order to live.
If you’ve ever read Long Walk to Freedom you can’t help but smile at the parallels between Mandela’s experience, and John and Winston’s experience in The Island (first performed in 1973)! This is a dual character play and it focuses on the lives of two political prisoners who are cell mates (Winston and John) on Robben Island. It highlights the mundane existence of the lives of the prisoner’s – digging holes in the sand, as a form of physical labour, and then emptying the wheelbarrow full of sand into the other man’s hole; arguing or sleeping in their cell. But the characters also seem to share a bond beyond a physical sense as they constantly provide each other with moral support and keep each other sane (to an extent). Then one of them receives news that they will be released soon as a result of a reduced sentence… now the other prisoner must learn to survive without the other! This all takes place amidst preparations for a play that they must both put on for the other prisoners and warders – Sophocles’ Antigone. Many more parallels can be draw between the situation that Antigone finds herself in (defying the law to do what she believes is morally just) and the situation that the political prisoners find themselves in (doing what they believe to be morally justifiable but illegal). A play within a play, many lessons to be gleaned from that!
Statements After an Arrest Under The Immorality Act, as the title suggests, focuses on the Immorality Act (an Act which prohibited adultery, attempted adultery, or related immoral acts between non-white people and white people). After spending what seems like an eternity engaged in an impassioned dialogue about life, love, and everything else that’s unfair, a mixed race couple are caught, lying naked, together, by the Apartheid police, in the comfort of their own home (the horror of it all)! The last part of the play reads like a tragic poetic epilogue. I had to read it more than once to truly grasp the essence of what was being communicated (I still don’t know if I have). The language, and the constant repetition of words and sentences… it was all very dramatic. I found the play a bit boring to read, but the message of the absurdity behind outlawing love between two consenting adults is one that reigns true even today and cannot be ignored.
Fugard, Kani, and Ntshona are literary geniuses, so reading the plays like you would read a novel is manageable. But the plays are better suited for the stage. It’s like Fugard says, “In all three of these plays the writer provided us with a mandate in terms of which the actors then went on to work”. These plays aren’t meant to be read but experienced. But until you can experience any of these plays at a theatre near you, grab a copy of Statements and enjoy!
― Gerard Way
[a: Athol Fugard|7770|Athol Fugard|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1220823761p2/7770.jpg] is a South African playwright and author who is well known for writing protest plays that shine a spotlight on the injustices and effects of racism within South Africa.
Statements: three plays is a collection of two workshop productions (Sizwe Bansi is Dead; and The Island) that were devised by Fugard in conjunction with [a:John Kani|124414|John Kani|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a: Winston Ntshona], and also includes a ‘new’ play, Statements After an Arrest Under The Immorality Act, which was first performed in 1974.
The common theme that runs through all three plays is their portrayal of the unrighteous system of Apartheid that plagued South Africa during 1948 and 1994, as well as the impact that the system had on the lives of the people of the country. Each play looks at the lives of ordinary South Africans living under this system of racial oppression.
Sizwe Bansi is Dead features three characters: Styles (who, ironically, is in the memorial business – i.e. photography), Bantu, and Sizwe; and it deals with the impact that the Pass Laws, that were implemented in South Africa to limit the movements of black people, had on their lives. Certain areas, in South Africa, were earmarked as ‘white only’ areas and any black person who was in these areas had to have permission to be there (the permission was indicated in their pass books - which plays a critical role in this play). More often than not, the reason for a black person being in a white’s only area was to perform labour, which is the situation that the eponymous character finds himself in… until he loses his job and is faced with the problem of having to return home (where there is little to no work and a family that needs to be fed, or break the law and remain in an area where he is legally not permitted to be and face fines and imprisonment).
“’I’ve got wonderful news for you,’ he says. ‘Sizwe Bansi, in a manner of speaking, is dead!’”
The scene where Bantu and Sizwe leave the shabeen is rather odd in how it is introduced and it is easy to feel annoyed while reading it, but it is perhaps one of the most important scenes in the play. There is no (in your face) violence in this play, but the play relies rather on humour and moral questioning (i.e. what makes an action morally reprehensible) to illustrate the horrors that many of the oppressed people had to endure. It illustrates poignantly the bureaucratic nuisances that black people had to endure just to survive. Apartheid was essentially a system that forced many people to make the choice of dying in order to live.
If you’ve ever read Long Walk to Freedom you can’t help but smile at the parallels between Mandela’s experience, and John and Winston’s experience in The Island (first performed in 1973)! This is a dual character play and it focuses on the lives of two political prisoners who are cell mates (Winston and John) on Robben Island. It highlights the mundane existence of the lives of the prisoner’s – digging holes in the sand, as a form of physical labour, and then emptying the wheelbarrow full of sand into the other man’s hole; arguing or sleeping in their cell. But the characters also seem to share a bond beyond a physical sense as they constantly provide each other with moral support and keep each other sane (to an extent). Then one of them receives news that they will be released soon as a result of a reduced sentence… now the other prisoner must learn to survive without the other! This all takes place amidst preparations for a play that they must both put on for the other prisoners and warders – Sophocles’ Antigone. Many more parallels can be draw between the situation that Antigone finds herself in (defying the law to do what she believes is morally just) and the situation that the political prisoners find themselves in (doing what they believe to be morally justifiable but illegal). A play within a play, many lessons to be gleaned from that!
Statements After an Arrest Under The Immorality Act, as the title suggests, focuses on the Immorality Act (an Act which prohibited adultery, attempted adultery, or related immoral acts between non-white people and white people). After spending what seems like an eternity engaged in an impassioned dialogue about life, love, and everything else that’s unfair, a mixed race couple are caught, lying naked, together, by the Apartheid police, in the comfort of their own home (the horror of it all)! The last part of the play reads like a tragic poetic epilogue. I had to read it more than once to truly grasp the essence of what was being communicated (I still don’t know if I have). The language, and the constant repetition of words and sentences… it was all very dramatic. I found the play a bit boring to read, but the message of the absurdity behind outlawing love between two consenting adults is one that reigns true even today and cannot be ignored.
Fugard, Kani, and Ntshona are literary geniuses, so reading the plays like you would read a novel is manageable. But the plays are better suited for the stage. It’s like Fugard says, “In all three of these plays the writer provided us with a mandate in terms of which the actors then went on to work”. These plays aren’t meant to be read but experienced. But until you can experience any of these plays at a theatre near you, grab a copy of Statements and enjoy!
elizafiedler's review against another edition
3.0
Very, very strange. The play within the play is by far the most interesting part of the book.
marystevens's review against another edition
5.0
Sizwe Banzi Is Dead is playing at McCarter and it is amazing. It is directed by John Kani who was one of the original actors when it premiered in Capetown, South Africa in 1972. The play subsequently won the London Drama Critics Award and 3 Tonys. The play is about Apartheid but also about identitity. The opening and closing scenes take place in Styles' Photography Studio where Robert Zwelinzima, nee Sizwe Banzi, is getting a photograph to send to his wife back in his home town. He tells the story of his change in identity as he writes a letter to his wife on the back of the photograph. The intervening scenes in this one act play re-enact that story. My favorite quote: "We own nothing except ourselves". This world and its laws allows us nothing except ourselves There is nothing we can leave behind when we die except the memory of ourselves."
nharkins's review against another edition
4.0
3 plays about Apartheid:
'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' is a bit obvious plot-wise, but seems more significant for the small theater as a medium: while posing for a picture, a character narrates what he will later write to his wife on the back of the photo, then acts out the events in the letter, which includes he and another "acting" out what they'll say if/when questioned. Then unwinds its meta rabbit hole, ending somewhat abruptly.
'The Island' (Antigone) is a pretty powerful piece about two prison cellmates, with a play within a play. Also ends somewhat abruptly.
'Statements' is about a forbidden cross-race affair, with strobe light effects to simulate incriminating photos taken at the arrest, amid the voice over of their testimony, which pretty well describe the first intimate contact of any/every relationship, despite the pride/shame of the cultural imbalances between them. Also a strong piece, and one might say this too ends a bit abruptly.
'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' is a bit obvious plot-wise, but seems more significant for the small theater as a medium: while posing for a picture, a character narrates what he will later write to his wife on the back of the photo, then acts out the events in the letter, which includes he and another "acting" out what they'll say if/when questioned. Then unwinds its meta rabbit hole, ending somewhat abruptly.
'The Island' (Antigone) is a pretty powerful piece about two prison cellmates, with a play within a play. Also ends somewhat abruptly.
'Statements' is about a forbidden cross-race affair, with strobe light effects to simulate incriminating photos taken at the arrest, amid the voice over of their testimony, which pretty well describe the first intimate contact of any/every relationship, despite the pride/shame of the cultural imbalances between them. Also a strong piece, and one might say this too ends a bit abruptly.
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