Sellelied

Sellelied ("Song from the Cells") is a 2002 play by Frans J. van Rensburg.

The original text

Frans J. van Rensburg, academic and performance arts specialist, compiled a bilingual collection from the writings of prominent South African (mostly political) prisoners including Nelson Mandela, Breyten Breytenbach, Dennis Brutus, Herman Charles Bosman, Tokyo Sexwale, Eugene Terre'Blanche, Mzwake Mbuli and Jeremy Cronin, describing their personal experiences of life in prison. He developed the material into a production including dramatised poetry and prose reading with choral song and speech.

More performance art than conventional theatre and with the actors being performing props and dressing, rather than players in the usual way, the production nevertheless made a powerful impact and deserved a place as an example of productions that dealt with crime and punishment and rehabilitation as part of the trend to focus on the social challenges facing the new South Africa.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

2002-2003: As part of a rehabilitation programme, Van Rensburg managed to get 40 actual inmates from Potchefstroom Prison to present the text onstage with him, and to form part of the performance. The performers wore their orange prison uniforms and performed behind wire screens and under guard. Sellelied [Song from the Cells] premièred at the Aardklop Festival in 2002 and played at the KKNK in 2003. While the text was compiled from the writings of mostly political prisoners, the men on stage were common criminals and represented prison life and the results of breaking the law for whatever reason.