Too Late

Too Late is a one-act play by Gibson Kente (1932-2004).

The original text

At first banned and then unbanned, it was Kente’s only published play, and one of only three that he wrote dealing directly with political themes. A melodramatic musical play with political undertones in the township style, on the death of Ntanana, a crippled girl through brutal police action and apartheid bureaucracy.

Excerpts published in S'ketsh' (1975) and the play was published in South African People’s Plays (Ed. Robert Kavanagh), 1981 (Heinemann). Too Late was banned in 1975. Township authorities used legislation of the Publications Control Board, under Section 12 of Act 26 of 1963, to ban the play for its protest against apartheid and for violating the state’s moral code on homosexuality.

Performance history in South Africa

1975: First performed in Mofolo Hall, Soweto, (February) directed by Gibson Kente, with the following cast: Stompie Mazwi (Saduva), Thandi Baduze (Ntanana), Nonkululeko Rabi (Madinto), Darlington Michaels (Doctor Phuza), Ronnie Mokoena (Offside), Mackintosh Bricks (Pelepele).

2019: Presented by the National School of the Arts (NSA) at the Joburg Theatre, directed by Makhaola Ndebele, musical direction by Themba Maseko and Nhlanhla Ngwenya, sets and costumes by Sarah Roberts, lighting by Stan Knight.

Sources

Tribute to Gibson Kente by Melvin Whitebooi, Die Burger, 4 December 2004.

South African People’s Plays (Ed. Robert Kavanagh), 1981 (Heinemann).

'Gibson Kente's TOO LATE - promo Joburg Theatre streaming'. Facebook. 3 June 2020.

Andile Xaba. 2021. 'Collective memory and the construction of a historical narrative, analysis and interpretation of selected Soweto-based community plays (1984–1994)'. Unpublished PhD thesis.

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