Top Down
Top Down by Muntu wa Bachaki (1950-2020)
Contents
The original text
A workshopped play about the corruption of school principals, their lackeys and their white superiors in the Bantu Education system in the mid 1970s during the Soweto uprising. A synopsis published in 1989 in Maske und Kothurn 35, 1:81-85. [see Kruger, 1999, p241].
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1988: Directed by Muntu wa Bachaki. Cast : Jake Mochidi Chika, Thulani Sifeni. First performed by Bachaki Theatre at the Funda Centre in 1988. Also performed at the Presbyterian Church in Hillbrow, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and at a human rights and arts festival in Port Elizabeth during the course of 1991. The play also toured in England and Switzerland in the late 1980s.
Sources
Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)
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 Unpublished PhD thesis.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
Return to
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
