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African native, John Kani has new a play in America. It
goes by the title of Nothing but the Truth. The play stars
John Kani himself as Sipho Makhaya, Warona Seane as Thando
Makhaya, and Esmeralda Bihl as Mandisa MacKay.
The play is about an elderly gentleman, by the name of Sipho
Makhaya, living with his daughter and awaiting a well-deserved
promotion after working for several years at a library in
South Africa as chief librarian. After living in England
for the better part of life Sipho’s brother returns
home for a funeral. This causes an eruption of emotion within
the Makhaya household.
The play is based on actual events that occurred during
the turbulent life of John Kani who was living in South
Africa during the very publicized apartheid conflict.
The play started out as a simple letter to his deceased
brother who, during the apartheid, was shot and killed at
the funeral of a 9-year-old girl. He was a poet who read
at several events for civil rights and was only 25-years-old
at the time of his death.
Kani had no closure after his brother’s untimely death,
and as anyone probably would, thought that it was “a
waste of young life”, in his words.
John Kani is a talented playwright, actor and director.
Probably best know to New York audiences for his 1975 Tony
award winning performances in The Island and Sizwe Banzi
is Dead. He even reprised his role in the recent world tour
of The Island, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and
in Toronto where it won a Toronto Theatre Award for best
production. In June he was awarded an Obie Award for his
contribution to theatre. In 1990 he won an AA Life Vita
Award for his performances in many notable productions at
South Africa’s Market Theatre.
Esmeralda Bihl, who acts in John Kani’s new play,
comes to the stage once again. Her first appearance in front
of an audience in 1995 in Athol Fugard’s Valley Song,
which toured the world, won her a Vita Award for most promising
new actress and a nomination for best supporting actress.
A Coloured Place (2002) won her an additional Vita nomination
for best actress in a comedy. Bihl also toured the UK in
Janet Suzman’s of The Cherry Orchard. Bihl has been
seen in a wide variety of television shows and movies in
South Africa, and hopefully we’ll see more of her
here in America.
And last but not least the beautiful Warona Seane, who graduated
in 1999 from the University of Cape Town and since then
she’s been very busy taking part in several theatre,
film and television projects. Three years ago she co-wrote
and directed Sacred Thorn which was showcased at the National
Arts Festival. She has also directed and written productions
of her own,and the list goes on and on.
One audience member, who was kind enough to contribute their
time to answer some of our questions told us that she thought
the play had a powerful message and it was vital for other
races as well to witness the struggles of south Africa.
In agreement with her, we think that everyone should go
see this play.
Overall, it was an astounding play with an even more astounding
message. The cast did an excellent job of getting it across
to the audience with feeling and conviction. Talented and
well rounded this makes up an award winning production.
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