Steve Biko: The Inquest
Steve Biko: The Inquest is a play devised by Saira Essa and Charles Pillai
Contents
The original text
Due to a controversy over performance rights for Jon Blair and Norman Fenton's play The Biko Inquest, Saira Essa and Charles Pillai created their own adaptation of the script, referring back to the original court transcripts and to amendments they had already made, resulting in the play Steve Biko: The Inquest (subtitled A documentary based on the inquest hearing into the death in detention of Steven Bantu Biko). It was published in Durban by Art Printers, [ca.]1985. (ISBN 9780620094832 - paperback).
Performance history in South Africa
1985: First performed by the Upstairs Theatre Company, Durban, 1985, directed by Saira Essa, starring Charles Pillai, Kerneels Coertzen, Peter Holden, Willem Pretorius, Chris Steyn, Mike Huff, Michael Maxwell, Ralph Draper, Ronald France.
The production was also shown at the Prithvi Festival in Bombay in the same year.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
First performed by the Upstairs Theatre Company, Durban, circa 1986, directed by Saira Essa, starring Charles Pillai, Kerneels Coertzen, Peter Holden, Willem Pretorius, Chris Steyn, Mike Huff, Michael Maxwell, Ralph Draper, Ronald France.
Sources
Steve Biko: The Inquest programme notes.
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