KUNENE
AND THE
KING
JOHN KANI
Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg • Cape Town • London
Praise for Kunene and the King
‘John Kani beautifully captures the complex divides of race,
class and politics in a remarkable and moving new play.’ – The Guardian
‘It’s electrified by its clear-eyed political reckoning, by passion
and by fine performances.’ – The Times (London)
‘They both deliver “Friends, Romans, countrymen”:
[Antony] Sher speaks in English, [John] Kani in Xhosa. Both
are powerful: Sher defiant, Kani radiant.’ – The Observer
‘Twenty-five years since apartheid ended, it’s fascinating
and necessary to see [John] Kani bring things up to date.’ – Financial Times
‘[John] Kani’s writing remains deeply incisive, full of both
anger and understanding.’ – The Stage
‘Antony Sher and John Kani impress in this transracial reckoning.’ – The Telegraph
‘Magnificent performances’ – WeekendSpecial
‘When John Kani writes and stars in a new play, you don’t miss it.
This is especially the case when this theatre great invites a couple
of other SA theatre luminaries to join him on his new journey –
Antony Sher as his co-star and Janice Honeyman to direct.’ – TimesLIVE
To my brother, the Reverend Welile Alfred Kani,
who died of liver cancer in December 2019
Contents
Introduction by Eusebius McKaiser
About the play
Kunene and the King premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Statford-upon-Avon on 21 March 2018. It was directed by Janice Honeyman and produced by Eric Abraham in collaboration with The Fugard Theatre and the RSC. Thereafter, it was performed in Cape Town at the Fugard Theatre in June 2019 and at The Ambassadors Theatre in London in January 2020. The cast was as follows:
Lunga Kunene John Kani
Jack Morris Antony Sher
On-stage musician Lungiswa Plaatjies
I would like to thank the RSC for giving me the opportunity to develop the script and do extensive research on cancer as a disease, meeting oncologists and carers at hospice facilities.
John Kani
Author’s note
My first real introduction to Shakespeare was in 1959, when my teacher, Mr Budaza, walked into our classroom, looking very proud and said: ‘Today we are going to study one of William Shakespeare’s most important plays, Julius Caesar, translated into Xhosa by WB Mdledle.’ It was like a revolution of knowledge had come into our lives. However, the purpose of having this play taught to us in our native language was to show that if we dared to rise against the establishment – the government – we would all suffer pain and failure, like Brutus and the conspirators who were ultimately defeated by the army of the state.
But Mr Budaza taught us differently. He told us that Caesar was ambitious and did not care about the rule of the majority. He was a dictator and would fall, just like the apartheid government of the Afrikaners would fall. Nevertheless, our teacher warned us that...