Woza Albert!

Woza Albert! ("Arise, Albert!") is an improvised political play by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon.

The original text

A full length play devised and improvised by Mtwa and Ngema, who had formed The Earth Players to do so, and facilitated and refined with the help of director/playwright Barney Simon, whom they had invited to help.

The text tells the story of how Christ ("Morena") visits apartheid South Africa, where he is introduced to the lives of ordinary people under the system, and does so by means of powerful mimicry and multiple characterizations by the two performers. In many ways the prototype for, and still one of the very best and most popular, examples of the new improvisational political theatre of the 1980s. An iconic political work, it was not only controversial, but influenced the nature of political theatre-making and the style and careers of a large number of writers and performers, and set up the careers of Mtwa and particularly Ngema as writer/theatre-makers.

The text was first published 1983 by Methuen and has since become and one of the most anthologised and produced of all South African plays. Published by Methuen and also in Woza Afrika! by George Braziller. The play has been a regular prescribed work for study and performance at school and university since the late 1980s.

Productions

After opening in Johannesburg, the production embarked on extensive tours for a number of years, according to Percy Tucker (1997, p. 402) eventually playing 23 seasons worldwide, and garnering numerous awards. After 1985, the play was performed by new cast members.

1981: First produced by the Earth Players, and presented in association with The Company, it opened at the Market Theatre on 25 March, 1981, directed by Barney Simon, with Percy Mtwa, and Mbongeni Ngema. Lighting by Mannie Manim, production manager Patrick Miller and stage manager Melanie Dobbs.

After a record-breaking tour of South Africa, the play returned to the Market Theatre in October, 1981, now playing in the main venue with Dixon Malele as stage manager.

1982: 4-23 January, Concert Hall, Baxter Theatre.

1983: The original Earth Players / The Company production presented at the Empty Space Theatre in Seattle, Washington, and the Ananburg Centre, Philadelphia.

1984/5: The original Earth Players / The Company production presented at the Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town, then at the Criterion Theatre in London by Terence Frisby, where it won the London City Limits Best Play of the Year Award, then taken to New York's Lucille Lortel Theatre, on Broadway and from there, to other parts of the world.

1986: The original Earth Players / The Company production plays in Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide. A new production by the Market Theatre Company, directed by Barney Simon, and now starring Sello Maake ka Ncube and Louis Seboko, is presented in the Baxter Concert Hall.

1987: The Market Theatre production plays in Switzerland.

1991: Presented by Little Theatre Tours at the National Arts Festival Fringe, directed by Mark Fleishman, starring Chris Gxalaba and Xola Luse.

1996: Directed by Bo Petersen, with Zwelibanzi Majola and Zolani Cata, in the Studio at the Baxter Theatre.

2001: Staged at the 25-year anniversary of the Market Theatre, directed by Sello Maake ka Ncube, with Siyabonga Twala and Tony Kgoroge for the opening performance and thereafter with Mfana Jones Hlope and Errol Ndotho.

2012: Directed by Prince Lamla, with Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu and Hamilton Ntokozo Dlamini at the Market Theatre, followed by a month-long season at the Edinburgh Festival 2012.

2014: A production by the University of Kwazulu-Natal's Hexagon Theatre, directed by Peter Mitchell, with T.Q. Zondi and Mpilo Nzimande. Also done at Seabrooke's Theatre, DHS

2015: Performed at the Little Theatre, Cape Town, as part of the Barney Simon tribute by the University of Cape Town. Directed by Mdu Kweyama with Sizwesandile Mnisi and Oarabile Ditsele.

2016: Produced by the Joburg Theatre, by arrangement with DALRO (Pty) Limited, in The Fringe at Joburg Theatre, with Mncedisi Shabangu and Hamilton Dhlamini.

2016: Performed at the Baxter Theatre’s Golden Arrow Studio, Cape Town, from 29 March to 9 April. Directed by Mdu Kweyama with Sizwesandile Mnisi and Oarabile Ditsele. Costume design Lee Bishop and lighting design is by Luyanda Somkhence.

Translations, adaptations and spin-offs

Filmed as a program for the BBC TV series Everyman in 1981 (55 min.). Produced by David M. Thompson, with photography by John Goodyear and film editing by William Nicholson. Distributed on VHS by California Newsreel, 1981.

Adapted as Woza Andries!