‘I’M God,” says John Kani in that distinctive voice as he starts rehearsals with son Atandwa and Mncedisi Shabangu, the two actors with the fiercest smiles on stage today.
They’re busy reprising Sizwe Banzi is Dead, the iconic work Kani snr created with fellow actor Winston Ntshona and playwright Athol Fugard 42 years ago, which toured the world and earned the two South African actors a joint Tony Award for Best Actor in 1975.
That’s quite an ask, but this is second time around for the two Kanis – with The Island, the first timer Kani jnr was asked to slip into Dad’s shoes.
Fortunately, neither of them look at it in quite that scary way. Once they step into the rehearsal space, Dad disappears and the director makes his grand entrance. And he never allows the two young men to forget that he wrote the play.
“Those are not the words I wrote,” he booms, with a twinkle, fully understanding the impact of his words. He might be playing up the directorial bit just a tad for his audience, but no one cannot be awed by what is happening in the room.
To listen to the words and watch that slice of ’70s life of a black man just trying to lead a simple life is even tougher than in the past. How many of us are prepared to queue for anything these days? Back then, there weren’t any options if you were black, as whites had all the power and could make up the rules when they chose to.
But watching the work is breathtaking.
“It is 42 years on,” says Bra John. “We are trying to put these two young men in the same environment as we were when we were improvising around our own lives.”
That’s also the part he under-lines during the run of the scene. He wants the actors to know exactly what every word expresses because it comes from a place where words had such different meanings: “It’s about informing them about a certain time. For us it was a creative struggle for freedom.”
For some who didn’t live in those times, those words might sound dramatic, but once you see Sizwe Banzi the impact of what he is saying will hit you hard.
That’s always been the beauty of the Kani/Ntshona/Fugard collaborations, it’s the simplicity of the horror of ordinary lives that is so painful to watch looking back.
This is an African classic and Kani jnr and Mncedisi are excited about the challenge. They know it is a work that was used as a political weapon and Kani has explained how they have to work to find themselves in that space.
It’s daunting stuff, but the hurdles are also the gifts. How extraordinary to have the man who helped create the work and the character.
“It’s about taking pieces of the puzzle and playing until they slide into place,” he says.
And during rehearsals, not too often, these are still early days, there’s a huge ‘Yes!’ and a grin from the director who sees the jigsaw puzzle starting to work.
“I also need to be patient,” he explains. “I need to watch them discover each piece and celebrate each little piece.”
There’s nothing warm and fuzzy on the rehearsal floor except, of course, for those of us watching. These are men hard at work on their craft, but the actors are electric, they take every breath seriously because they know this is an extraordinary moment in time. The man guiding them is not their father or friend, he is someone who has lived the life and then created the play. That isn’t something that happens often and they feel blessed to be the chosen ones.
The poignant iconic play tells about Sizwe’s struggle for survival in Port Elizabeth. He has been caught without a passbook and must return to King William’s Town to his desperate family or take a chance and abandon his birth name. He is forced to take a step back and think about his identity and what defines him. How can he forfeit his name, his own identity?
“It’s such a heavy indictment of the time,” notes Kani snr.
It is what defines him that becomes Mncedisi’s process. As Sizwe, with a face that speaks without saying a word, it’s a part that this astounding actor knows he has to work at before he can get to the essence of this majestic life. Sizwe, a simple man who wants only for him and his family to survive, finds himself in a world where nothing is easy and that becomes his struggle.
Kani jnr flits between two extreme characters, the photo-grapher and the township guy who has seen it all.
“Always keep it contained in a space of simplicity,” says the director as he hands a key to his young actor. “Everything you do on stage is always a response to something, not the next line.”
It’s a bit like sitting in a master-class as you listen to him guiding them gently, yet firmly.
“Every line is pregnant with the conditions of the journey and the circumstances – and the past.”
He sheds some more light on the writing as he explains that they were trying to replicate the Xhosa rhythms in the English they spoke which adds another dimension to the work. Also, Sky’s Place, where the two characters go and have a drink – Kani has used it in three plays, Sizwe, The Island and Nothing But The Truth.
“It was the shebeen for intellectuals in Port Elizabeth,” he explains. “People who knew would understand we are talking about the creme de la creme!”
He lets his mind wander, a break in rehearsals, as he talks about their return from New York after the run of Sizwe in the ’70s: “We were famous.”
But of course not in his own country. The media would have written selectively about the successes of black actors and computers for big business were just appearing. Telephones and telex were the only ways to communicate quickly.
“It’s hard, “ says Mncedisi, “dealing with such a complicated text.” Even though, when the lines are spoken, it all seems quite simple, he has to get under Sizwe’s skin to get the tone perfectly. But he feels Kani snr being there keeps him grounded.
“It’s about not feeling sorry for Sizwe, to work against taking that easy route. We’re scared of silence,” he admits.
Atandwa again has to deal with playing for Dad even though that relationship leaves the rehearsal room. It is still there and some-times, the child has to bite his tongue, but then he also reminds himself of this theatre giant.
“I’m Dad at home, not John Kani,” says Kani snr. He doesn’t even discuss the history of these plays, his theatre life with his son. What he tells them in the rehearsal room is like a history lesson for Atandwa. “He can ask Winston and Athol,” says John.
This is tough, and glorious, both actors admit. “It hurts, physically, but it is where you grow the most,” says Atandwa.
And their security blanket? When John is happy! Then they know they’ve hit the right notes.
• Sizwe Banzi is Dead runs from November 26 to December 14 at the Barney Simon Theatre at the Market before it travels to Princeton and Syracuse, who commissioned the work. So catch it now, but if you can’t, we know they’ll be back. This is a biggie!