D.E.T. Boys High

A music drama written by Smal Ndaba. The central theme of the play is a scathing attack on the unscrupulous system of black education of the time.

The original text

First performed at the Mmabana Cultural Centre Mmabatho in October 1990.

The play is "a highly energetic, thought-provoking, multi-award winning Sibikwa production, emerged from intense research in the 1990s and is presented in the typical multilingual Sibikwa style with a-cappella harmonies and high energy dances embedded in the dialogues. It gives a candid view of the substandard education of the day. The play, set in a boy’s high school toilet, shakes and pulsates with the raw vitality and fire of the and explores corruption among teachers and the disillusionment of learners".

Performance history in South Africa

1990: First performed at the Mmabana Cultural Centre Mmabatho in October 1990.

1991: Grahamstown Festival 1991, Market Theatre 1991.

1991: Presented by the Sibikwa Players at the Baxter Theatre directed by Phyllis Klotz and Smal Ndaba, opening 10 September 1991. Design by Sarah Roberts, choreography by Dawn Langdown, lighting design by Craig Dobson. The cast: Charles Dhlomo (Mingus), Moses Kgetsi Mphalele (Caretaker), Themba Ndaba (T. Man), Sphiwe Dludlu (Bozol), Daniel Mnguni (Toko).

2015: Revival production by the Sibikwa Players.

Sources

D.E.T. Boys High programme.

Review by Victor Metsoamere (Market Theatre production) in The Sowetan, 5 August 1991.

Review by Emile Joubert (Baxter Theatre production in Die Burger, 12 September 1991.

https://theluvvie.com/2015/06/23/sibikwa-presents-four-classic-plays/

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