We Shall Sing for the Fatherland
We Shall Sing for the Fatherland is a play by Zakes Mda (1948-).
Contents
The original text
A superb short allegorical play dealing with the results of the anti-colonial wars on the society and the veterans of those wars in Africa, utilizing the story of two veterans of the “wars of freedom” who live in a city park and survive by scavenging. Written in 1973.
The play was first performed by the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in association with the Amstel Playwright of the Year Award.
First published in S'Ketsh 1979, later in the collection We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays, Ravan Press, 1980. Also published in The Plays of Zakes Mda by Ravan Press, 1990. This edition was for a while banned in South Africa. Also found in a number of later collections.
Mda was awarded the Amstel Playwright of the Year Special Merit Award in 1978 for this play text.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1979: First performed as double bill with Dead End by the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA), in association with the Amstel Playwright of the Year Award, at the Diepkloof Hall in Soweto, on 14 February. Directed by Benjy Francis with Edward Soutien, James Mthoba, Eddie Nhlapo, Richard Ngemane, Nomhle Nkonyeni.
1979: Also produced at the Market Theatre, directed by Nicholas Ellenbogen in the same year, with the same cast, with the addition as Iain Henderson as "The Banker". Opened on 22 March.
1979: Next performed at the People's Space (Cape Town), this time as a double bill with Dark Voices Ring and directed by Rob Amato and Nomhle Nkonyeni.
1989: Presented at the Funda Centre and at the Donaldson Orlando Community Centre (DOCC) by the Mafeking experimental theatre group, directed by Walter Chakela.
Sources
Zakes Mda. 1980. We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays, Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
Andrew Horn (Ed.). 1990. The Plays of Zakes Mda. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
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 Unpublished PhD thesis.
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