The Last Bus

The Last Bus is an improvised play by the Serpent Players.

Not to be confused with the 2021 British film[1] or 2022 Netflix series[2].

The original text

A play about the relationship between black and coloured people in Port Elizabeth. There is some uncertainty about the dates for this play, with most sources (including Dennis Walder, 1993 and the The Fugard Theatre website) dating it 1969 and Martin Banham (2004: p. 353) giving it as 1968.

Performance history in South Africa

1968 and/or 1969: Performed by the Serpent Players in the St Stephen's Church Hall, Port Elizabeth.

Sources

S'ketsh', July 1972, 17.

Dennis Walder. 1993. Crossing Boundaries: The Genesis of the Township Plays. Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Athol Fugard Issue - Winter, 1993), pp. 409-42.

Zakes Mda's Introduction to John Kani's Nothing But the Truth. 2002. Witwatersrand University Press.

Martin Banham · 2004. A History of Theatre in Africa Cambridge: Cambridge Univbersity Press.

https://www.thefugard.com/athol-fugard/

Ella Parke. 2024. A Conversation with Dr. John Kani, The Carletonian: Saturday, May 4, 2024[3]

Go to ESAT Bibliography