Dirty Work

Dirty Work is a play by Maishe Maponya (1951-2021).

The original text

A solo play, shaped in rehearsal with actor John Maytham, this is a study of a security advisor addressing the audience and spouting white fears and preconceptions about black South Africans, while disturbing off-stage sounds keep intruding.

First performed in 1984, the text was published in Doing Plays for a Change (a collection of Maponya's plays, introduced by Ian Steadman), by the Witwatersrand University Press in 1995.

Performance history in South Africa

1984: First performed in The Laager at the Market Theatre in 1984, directed by Maishe Maponya, performed by John Maytham 1984: First performed by the Bahumutsi Theatre Group in The Laager at the Market Theatre in February, in a double-bill with another Maponya play, Gangsters. Directed by Maponya with Jon Maytham.

Sources

Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)

Pat Schwartz 1988. The Best of Company: The Story of Johannesburg's Market Theatre. Johannesburg: Ad Donker.

Ian Steadman (Ed.) 1995. Doing Plays for a Change (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press).

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to South_African_Films

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to South African Radio Plays and Serials

Return to South African Television Plays and Series

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page