Sizwe Banzi is Dead, the Young Vic

Following the Young Vic’s double bill of the white South African playwright Athol Fugard’s anti-apartheid plays in summer 2013, the theatre is remounting its hit production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead for a limited run in the New Year. It will also be moving from the Young Vic’s small Clare studio to the larger Maria, offering more theatregoers the chance to catch this hugely popular production.

Set in 1972 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the play poses a desperate dilemma for its protagonist. Sizwe Banzi has a passbook that gives him just three days to find work or he will be deported. When he is unable to gain employment, the discovery of a passbook on a dead body prompts him to ask agonising questions of himself. Is he willing to give up everything he knows – his name, his family, his identity – as a way of surviving in a ruthless world?

This second run of Fugard’s Tony-nominated play arrives in the wake of Nelson Mandela’s death, making its consideration of the apartheid era particularly timely. The 2013 production of the play marked its 40th anniversary, but its consideration of home, identity and life under an oppressive regime remains sadly relevant today.

The production is directed by Matthew Xia, one of the winners of the Genesis Foundation’s Future Directors Award. Thanks to the support of the charitable foundation, Sizwe Banzi is Dead is his first full-length professional show, following a previous career as a DJ for BBC Radio 1.

The Young Vic’s original production enjoyed a sell-out run, with tickets getting snapped up long before it opened, so we recommend booking soon to avoid disappointment.