Sol Rachilo
Sol Rachilo (1929-2026) was an actor, playwright, poet and drama teacher.
Also known as Solomon Rachilo, Sol Ntsoeng Rachilo, Bra Sol, Uncle Sol, Solra or Solrah.
Contents
Biography
Born Solomon Ntsoeng Rachilo in Pietermaritzburg where his mother was a domestic worker but spent most of his life in Soweto.
Died on 16 August 2026.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He began working as a performer in the 1950s, becoming one of the most revered performers and theatre makers of his generation, as well as an influential teacher.
As a teacher
Besides his theatre work, he also had an 18 month stint as a journalist for Drum in the late 1950s, leading to a meeting with Athol Fugard and his first role as actor in No Good Friday. He also wrote for other journals and magazines over the years (e.g. for Applause) and worked as a social worker for a while in the 1970's, but left this after the 1976 uprising, in order to found and run the The Children of Soweto Action Centre Drama Academy in 1977, using the various art forms (music, fine art, photography and drama) to help young people traumatized by the turbulence of the time. It is widely celebrated as the first drama school owned by a Black man in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Theatre performer and playwright
He began working in theatre for Union Artists at Dorkay House, alongside luminaries such as Zakes Mokae, Bess Finney, Ricky Arden, Norah Taylor and Cecil Williams, making his professional stage debut in No-Good Friday (1958), and going on to plays like Sponono (1962), Gangsters (1984), Sizwe Bansi is Dead, Lakutshon Ilanga (1988/89).
He also wrote directed a number of plays, including Three in Number (with music by Gideon Nxumalo, 1967), The Township Housewife (1972), Grounded in Mshenguville (1989),
Film and TV performer
Among the films he worked on have been Joe Bullet (1973), Bullet on the Run (1982), Charlie Steel (1984), Game for Vultures, Collision
Television role included appearances in the SABC 1 drama series Lisenethini ("It's in the net") as "Capone" and The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (2009).
Sources
Sunday Independent 20 September 1998.
https://sowetolifemag.co.za/sol-rachilo-to-celebrate-his-90th-birthday/
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 Unpublished PhD thesis.
Constance Gaanakgomo. "‘A living archive’: South Africa mourns actor, playwright and poet Sol Rachilo", News24[1]
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