Nothing But the Truth John Kani (2002)

CONTENTS

1. THE PLAYWRIGHT

2. BACKGROUND

3. CONTEXT

4. PLAY ANALYSIS

THE GENRE BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY -THE STORYPLOT PLAY STRUCTURECHARACTERS dramatic tensionConflictSubject matter-secretsTHEMESMESSAGESTHEATRE FOR RECONCILIATIONTHE TITLE

5. THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE

THE SETTING STAGE TYPETHE SETLIGHTINGSOUNDCOSTUMESPROPSSTAGINGACTING SKILLSDIRECTING

Appropriate acting skills for this play

6. REVIEWS AND AN INTERVIEW

7. EXEMPLAR QUESTION PAPER AND MEMO

1. THE PLAYWRIGHT

BIOGRAPHY – JOHN BONISILE KANI JOHN KANI is an actor, a director and a playwright. John has appeared at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre in, among others, THE BLOOD KNOT, DRIVING MISS DAISY, THE NATIVE WHO CAUSED ALL THE TROUBLE, OTHELLO, THE LION AND THE LAMB, SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD, THE ISLAND, WAITING FOR GODOT, THE DEATH OF BESSIE SMITH, PLAYLAND, DUET FOR ONE, MY CHILDREN MY AFRICA which won him an AA life Vita Award in 1990 for his role as Mr. M., HEDDA GABLER, DANCE OF DEATH, THE LION AND THE LAMB and the Shakespeare Compilation LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, SHAKESPEARE ! As well as acting in SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD and THE ISLAND, John also co-wrote the plays with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona. John won the 1974/75 TONY AWARD On Broadway for Best Actor for his performance in the productions. John has worked with Athol Fugard since 1965 when he joined the Serpent players. His London productions include SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD, THE ISLAND which won him an Evening Standard Award nomination, WAITING FOR GODOT at the Old Vic, MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS, and at the Royal National Theatre, MY CHILDREN MY AFRICA which won him an Olivier Award and PLAYLAND at the Donmar Warehouse in the West End. In January –April 2000 he performed in THE ISLAND at The Royal National Theatre, which was preceded by a season of THE ISLAND at Peter Brook’s theatre, The Bouffe Du Nord in Paris and short season at Stockholm’s Stadsteater. This was followed by seasons of THE ISLAND in Montreal, Canada at The Kennedy Centre in New York. In 2002 THE ISLAND performed on London’s West End to sold out houses. John’s film credits include THE WILD GEESE, THE GRASS IS SINGING, MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST, VICTIMS OF APARTHEID, AN AFRICAN DREAM, OPTION, A DRY WHITE SEASON, SARAFINA and SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE PALACE for which he won a Taormina Golden Award at the Milan International Festival. Recently he appeared in KINI AND ADAMS, GHOST AND THE DARKNESS with Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, TICHBOURNE CLAIMANT WITH Robert Pugh and Sir John Gielgud and THE FINAL SOLUTION. At the Market Theatre John has directed GOREE and BLUES AFRICA CAFÉ by Matsamela Manaka, KAGOOS by Kessie Govender and more recently THE MEETING by Jeff Stetson. He has also directed several commercials, one recently won an M-Net Plum Award and another a CLIO award in New York. John has also recently been awarded the Avante Hall of Fame award from the South African Film, Television and Advertising Industry. John Kani’s most recent endeavor includes writing and starring in the much acclaimed “Nothing But The Truth” at the Market Theatre. The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce awarded John a Merit Award for his contribution to the advancement of culture in South Africa. He has also been awarded the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award In 1995 John was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Durban Westville and in April, 1998 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Rhodes Rhodes University, Grahamstown. On 23 January 2000 he was awarded the Hiroshima Foundation Award for Peace in Stockholm. In July 2000, he was awarded The African Renaissance Merit Award for his contribution to the development of African Film Industry, by The South African Film and Television Industry. In September 2000 he was awarded Titan of The Century Award by Tribute Magazine’s Black Business Forum which recognises Black Achievers, as The Best Performing Artist of the past Century, In 2004 John received a Leadership and Service Award from South African Breweries for his extraordinary contribution in Arts and Culture in South Africa. In the year 2002 John's play "Nothing But The Truth" opened in Grahamstown on the 4th of July, received critical acclaim all round. The play had a successful season at the Baxter Theatre, Market Theatre and the Opera House in Port Elizabeth. In 2003 Nothing But The Truth won three Fleur du Cap Awards for Best Actor, Best New South African Play and Best Director for Janice Honeyman. The play had a successful season at the Lincoln Centre Theatre in New York where John received an Excellence In International Award presented to him by Harlem Arts Alliance and the New York Theatres. The play also received five Naledi Awards in Johannesburg 2004 including Best Actor, Best New South African Play and Best Production for 2003. John Kani is Executive Trustee of The Market Theatre Foundation. Chairman of the Apartheid Museum.

2. BACKGROUND

JOHN KANI’S SPEECH…ON HIMSELF, ON NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH … AND ON RECONCILIATION

I come from a long line of storytellers. My grandmother, whenever I’d done something wrong, would always start by saying ‘once upon a time’ and I knew …u-uh …….here comes a story… and I better learn from this story.

One of the stories is why I became who I am: I had gone to school in a coloured community which was very close in Port Elizabeth where I was born it was called Korsten and we had a big fight with some coloured boys, we called each other all the names from the A’s to the K’s and the F’s and I was very angry… and my grandmother told me a story…

She said, in the deep forest on a beautiful day, the birds were singing the sun was shining, later rain pouring with water even the frogs were having fun, several of them swimming beautifully in this pond and suddenly across the pond came seven little snakes, and the frogs jumped out and they looked across, and the frogs looked across the pond, the snakes looked across the pond and said they’re different from us, they don’t look like us, we cannot have anything to do with them, they’re not us, we are different people from them, but as kids are, time went by when the little snake got to the water and it hopped into the water and started splashing and swimming. Within no time all the kids were in the pond swimming and having the greatest of times and one of the little frogs said we have to go now, it’s about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and my ma is not happy when we are late, and the little snake said, mothers are the same, my ma too is very angry when we are late, that evening the little frogs mentioned to ma, we’ve got new friends, but they kind of walk different, they kind of slither around, and there skin is a little rough but they wonderful, we touched them and they touched us, they don’t have limbs, we played games, and mother said they are the enemy never ever ever associate with them. And the other side of the river the little snake said to dad we played with some wonderful friends today, they have got little tongues and they’re beautiful and daddy snake said, we could invite them for dinner. The following day the sun rose, the birds began to sing and the sound of laughter was missing in the pond the kids were never back in that pond again.

From 1948 to 1994 and I said to myself, if there is any ounce of strength in my body any integrity or dignity or respect for myself, I will work until I have those kids in the pool back again that’s what I have been doing all my life, is to tell the stories that bring people together, is to tell stories and accept that which is different. I’m beautiful, I’m handsome, I look like my brother, I’ve got a flat nose and thick lips, my hair is short and curly, but I’m beautiful, and you’re lighter than me, the little poke nose and thin lips and you speak funny. But I have learned to understand you because I have realised we are trapped in the same pond, you took a little longer to understand that, so when I wrote my plays, when I told my stories, it was always to bring us together, circumstances divided us, at times made it impossible for me to talk to you. This rule by greed, possession and fear, we should have fixed this problem of South Africa long ago, but I do understand the fear of the unknown, of what would change me, would it mean I must come into the white neighbourhood, and re-marry when I am married already? Did I expect you to run to Soweto and Langa and suddenly live there? No, I expected you to

accept that we are fellow South Africans, I expect you to accept that we are fellow human beings, I wanted you to understand we are all God’s children, and if I go by Professor Tobias, the first human was actually African, you are all me, it’s true! The first being on this earth was an African, we are all shades of being, like what makes me so proud, all in this room we are Africans, some of you are just of European descent, some of you are Asian descent, some of you are Africans of African descent, and you understand that, that we have a joint responsibility to make this place the most beautiful place.

1994 came and we wrote the new plays, we looked at political tolerance, we looked at political violence, we looked at conservation, we looked at things that perfect our characters, we looked at the AIDS and HIV situation which we thought was the white man’s focus but now we realise that we have reached a biological warfare within our own lives, in our own societies, which we are not wanting to win, which is so easy to win.

I don’t know why we have a problem with Aids, when we know exactly how not to get Aids, it’s such a simple thing, You make a decision to get it, you decide I’m not going to be reckless, I’m not going to be careful, I’m not going to be safe, I’m going to be reckless, I’m going to do these things now, because I don’t care about being bitten, and I say to myself, it’s the same like you are saying, I love you to death. No more! I love you to life!

And then of course came the big reconciliation. 300 years have passed with all the lives of our own parents about whom you are and who we are, we decided then we are going to bridge this gap very quickly, if we need a South Africa to take forward, a community that was non-racial, non-sexist, just, democratic, we need to learn, how do I say I forgive you, how? and what fascinates me in reconciliation, that the responsibility of reconciliation and forgiving, seems to be put upon the shoulders of the victim, the perpetrator seems to be standing across the street and not approaching me to say I’m sorry. I’m the one who has to say we’ve got to talk I need you, so that I can forgive you, so we started look at how do we address this particular problem, we realise, we are the children of God, we are empowered by Jesus to serve him and then we’ll be able to forgive.

I was speaking in Namibia last month, to a group of young employers, because Namibia is starting their own reconciliation process after 14 years, because it is important that we come together, it is important and especially that we make sure that there’s a bank account when we die, not the one that says in a very well and dignified way my wife must receive this and this and that, no, this is an investment for the future, we have got to make sure that you young people know we have forgiven each other, we have agreed that the past was our sole responsibility, we have agreed that we are not going to destroy each other with guilt. Because I have had a lot of problems in my life, we killed a lot of people in the townships, we necklaced a lot of people in the townships, we made a lot of mistakes in the townships, we hated each other in the townships, the Zulus killed the Xhosas, and the Xhosas killed the Zulus. It was a mess, but you covered it all, because then we would come together in the morning and fight the white people and in the evening kill each other, so we needed to forgive each other as well, we needed to forgive you too as well, so I looked into this process of forgiving and I found it very interesting and I thought I’m going to address it and I wrote a play called “Nothing but the Truth”, this play is an example of the forgiveness of a family within as a life of a broader society, to understand how people have to forgive themselves, they have to come to some terms with themselves, because the hatred and the anger is in me, it doesn’t matter how much time, or how many times you tried to talk to me, if I haven’t freed myself from my own bitterness and anger, right or wrong, you are not able to reach me.

Therefore, bitterness, hatred and all those feelings that grind your own soul, you need to free self from those things, because they result in fear and fear kills. That’s why I freed myself. When I met a white man (Fugard) in 1965, I was black, black. I had no room for white people. They were the enemy. And we were doing a play in 1965 called The Oresteia and today 39 years later, I’m rehearsing Antigone, and I played Creon, so it’s a full circle, the meeting opened my eyes, that not all white people are the enemy, not all white people are bad, there are good people there, God’s people there, If I kill one of them it will be a terrible mistake, therefore I changed my revolution, I said I loved them so much I will change them.

I am happy with what I have done, through my work through my being as a cultural activist, the important thing is to understand the responsibility,When I stepped out into the world and I went to America and I went all over the country and I did citations and theses all over at these universities, when I got my first doctorate at Rhodes University, the Guest Speaker was one of my first teachers, a white teacher, everybody was saying what is this old woman doing here, professor so and so and a lady who dug my foundations, a lady who that put the first brick down, to what we see today as a house, she was the one I said thank you to.

Theatre is the most powerful tool that we have today to effect change in this country, you can legislate, you can make your laws in this country. As long as the actions of people don’t change, it’s a difficult situation. But theatre enables us in a creative process, in a way that so cleverly brings us a story and then we teach you a small lesson in life and people walk out saying I understand. Theatre is able to reflect the society to itself like a giant mirror. The society learns from it,

When I told my father I wanted to be an actor in 1963 he took me to an old house down in the township and we went to see a witchdoctor, because he knew that I was bad, then I had no heroes or role models. It was my mother who said, I think you should leave him alone, I think he is happy, I don’t know what he is doing but he is happy. So we should encourage the children to go into the Arts, whether it is architecture, whether it’s visual arts, whether it’s graphic design, stage, theatre, designing, lighting, acting, directing and most important writing, we need young writers who write about their present experiences

I’m an actor, I’m a director, I’m a writer, I’m an arts administrator, I advise the Minister on affairs and I’ve worked around the world, I do it because I love people they’re wonderful human beings especially when they’re silent, cause I’m thinking…what is going on in those minds, I wonder what they’re thinking, because I know those minds are telling new stories of their own lives and we have so many stories to tell about this beautiful South Africa, this beautiful country, that would stun Romeo and Juliet, that would stun the greatest classics, they are your stories, they are our stories but the most important lets take South Africa in this coming decade to even greater heights, let’s take South Africa as our home, we I this I never used to say, whenever the All Blacks or the English came to play in South Africa we used to pray the Springboks loses so we could celebrate, but today they’re my team, I’m an old dog I’m learning new tricks, therefore the South Africa you have is yours. Nurture it, you guard it jealously and let no one ever criticize your people, let no one ever say any bad about my home, my school, my community, my village, my people.

We need young people who burn here with the truth and love, not just for sport - fellow South African, but for humanity - this is the South Africa we love, these are the people that are my people – thank you.

3. CONTEXT

FROM AN APARTHEID PAST TO A TIME OF RECONCILIATION AND CHANGE

The play is set in 2000, the beginning of a new millennium, the beginnings of the New South Africa, a time of great political and social change, a time of looking back on an Apartheid past, a time of taking stock of the realities of the present, a time of facing the truth of the past, finding reconciliation through forgiveness and of moving forward into a future filled with freedom and possibilities. It is in this context that Sipho lives out his own personal drama and expresses this same situation in his own life. Through the process of the play, Sipho undergoes his own personal truth and reconciliation process through facing the past, forgiving in the present and fulfilment of the future.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The South African context of the play’s action is important. It is a socio-political situation which all South Africans went through, but who experienced it from their particular economic, social and political standpoint. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is brought into conversations and arguments, and also through Thando’s work there, characterises the socio-political environment and dramatic background. The TRC mirrors the process Sipho and his family undergoes in their own experience of truth and reconciliation. It is important to understand the significance of the TRC in the transformation process of the country and creation of the New South Africa as well as the transformation process of Sipho and his family.

The TRC consisted of three committees1. The Human Right Violations Committee: This effectively became a mechanism through which the victims could tell their stories and individual accounts of atrocities could be documented. In the course of the hearings of this committee 20 000 statements were received from victims. In the play Sipho has chosen not to present the case of the killing of his son, Luvuyo. This fact emerges in Act 1 (p 20).

MANDISA: Were the people who killed him ever found?THANDO: No. It was the police. My father never wanted to find out. Not

even during the TRC hearings.MANDISA: Why? Isn't that what the TRC is there for? We heard a lot

about those hearings in London.THANDO [taking the teapot, cups, sugar and milk on a tray into the living

room]: He said he had. his reasons.

This subject recurs at the end of Act II. For Sipho it is part of the need for 'payback time' he makes it very clear that he does not want the case to be heard by the TRC, instead regarding the criminal justice system as the appropriate forum.

2. The Amnesty Committee: Amnesty is defined as 'a general pardon, an act of oblivion'; it effectively wipes the slate clean.This evaluated applications made by perpetrators of violations of human rights. The conditions for amnesty were rigorously specific, and were outlined as follows:

The basis for amnesty was by individual application, in which the applicant had to name and acknowledge him/herself.The applicant had publicly to disclose fully and acknowledge completely the acts perpetrated.

The application is dealt with in a public hearing. The applicant must therefore make his admission in the fll11 glare of publicity. Let us imagine what this means. Often this is the first time that an applicant's family and community learn that an apparently decent man was, for instance, a callous torturer or a member of a ruthless death squad that assassinated many opponents of the previous regime. (p 9)

The applicant had to demonstrate the political motivation that led to the activities in which he/she had been engaged.

No person who had committed gratuitous or extreme violence or who had taken pleasure in abuse would be granted amnesty. Tutu recorded in the

introduction to the TRC report that 7 000 applications had been made, of which about 150 had been granted and a further 2 000 still had to be dealt with. (In the play Thando, an interpreter at the TRC, is working at the amnesty hearings at the time that the outcome of the hearings about the murder of the 'Cradock Three' is pending)

3. The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee: This committee was mandated to formulate a 'policy to restore and rehabilitate the lives of victims and survivors of human rights violations'. (Krog, Publisher's note)

There are references to TRC cases such as Craig Williamson, Ruth First, Chris Hani, Janus Walus, The PEBCO 3, The Cradock 4 and others.

FIND OUT THEIR STORIES. IT WILL DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN THE STRUGGLE AND IN THE PLAY. FOR EXAMPLE:

CHRIS HANIYouth:

- Born on 28 July 1942 in Comfimvaba, in the Transkei. One of 6 children- Father: semi-literate migrant worker in the Transvaal mines. Mother: subsistence farmer to

supplement family.- walked 25km to school and the same distance to church on Sundays, devoted Catholic- 1953 Black Education Act was introduced, lay foundations for Bantu Education- “this angered and outraged us and paved the way for my involvement in the struggle”- 1956 joined the ANC; 1957 joined the ANC youth league at fifteen.- After matriculating he went to university at Ford Hare (Latin studies & English Literature) and was

openly involved in the struggle as it was a liberal campusThe Struggle:

- 1961 he joined the underground South African Communist Party- 1962 joined Umkhoto we Sizwe (MK), militant wing of ANC- His high education lead him to rise in the ranks and within months he was a member of the

Committee of Seven (leadership cadre)- This marked the beginning of his long road in the armed struggle: he was arrested several times, was

placed under house arrest and was the target of 3 abortive assassinations attempts and a car bomb.- 1967 fought together with Zipra forces in Zimbabwe as political commissioner. - 1973 he was transferred to Lesotho: organized units for MK guerilla operations in SA.- In February, 1990 Hani returned to South Africa

Assassination:- 10 April 1993 as he returned home from buying newspapers he was gunned down in his driveway by

Januz Walus (anti-Communist Polish refugee who had close links with the AWB)- he had given his bodyguards the Easter weekend off- Retha Harmse saw Walus firing four shots at Hani within point blank range and alerted the police.- 15 minutes later he was arrested 10km from Hani’s home with the murder weapon in his car and

blood on his shirtCRAIG WILLIAMSON“Super spy”:

- In the late 1970’s had deceived the director of the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF) in Geneva, Lars Erikson, into employing him as deputy director

- As deputy director he had to help with the award scholarships to African Students and was thus able to gain access to ANC and make high-level contacts in Sweden which provided most of the funding.

- He used UIEF funds to establish a special unit in Pretoria to target apartheid’s opponents situated in other countries: an assassination squad known as Koevoet.

Bombing and Burglary:- 1982: burglary at the PAC’s head office in London. Two suspects were arrested one admitting that he

was working for South African intelligence and specifically for Williamson.- 1986: ANC office in Stockholm was blown up. Williamson was thought to have been involved but the

perpetrators were never found.- He applied for amnesty in 1995 for blowing up the ANC office in London from the TRC although he

did not reveal that the purpose of the bombing was to kill the then ANC president, Oliver Tambo.

Kidnapping and Assassination:- 1982: ordered the assassination of Ruth First (exiled campaigner for the Anti-Apartheid Movement

and the ANC). She was killed by a letter bomb in Mozambique.- 1984: minutes of the State Security Council recorded Craig Williamson plotting to overthrow the

Mozambique government.8

- 1986: Olof Palme was shot and killed a week after addressing the Swedish People’s Parliament against Apartheid. He was only named for Palme’s murder ten years later in a South African court.

- 1986: president of Mozambique, Samora Machel, was killed when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain after decoy radio beacon caused it to stray over the border into SA.

- 1987:plans for kidnapping an entire ANC leadership were uncovered- 1988: ANC representative, Godfrey Motsepe, narrowly escaped an assassin’s bullet.

Propaganda:- Williamson was one of the main collaborators with Peter Worthington in the pro-apartheid video The

ANC method – Violence- In 1988 the US-produced film Red Scorpion was made in the South-West. The action packed movie

was a sympathetic portrayal of an anti-communist guerilla commander loosely based on Jonas Savimbi (UNITA leader, the Angolan rebel movement). According to Craig Willamson it was to be “an instrument for political warfare against apartheid’s foes.”

4. PLAY ANALYSIS

THE GENRENew Realism

Nothing but the Truth is a realistic play which conforms to the style of Kitchen Sink Drama or New Realism. This style affects all elements of the play which combine to create the illusion of reality. The play develops as the typical realistic well made play with unities of time place and action over the two days in which the action takes place. There is specificity in terms of locale. The play is ‘a slice of life’. Some realistic elements reflected are seen in:

The charactersThe characters are well-rounded. They have a past and future. They are 3-dimensional and their actions, thoughts and feelings are logically motivated

The actionThis takes place over two consecutive days.

The dialogueThe dialogue is everyday language and the realistic plot is driven through a series of conversations and arguments which reveal the ultimate truth of the situation, the characters and their points of view

The performanceThe actors motivate and use realistic expressions, gestures and movements to convey their characters and situations. They might use Stanislavski’s system to prepare their characters for performance. ‘Acting is truth’.

The setThe box set is an exact replica of a typical township house. The same dimensions. Furniture is typical and detailed props complete the realistic visual picture. The set is designed to fit onto a proscenium Arch stage.

The subject matterThe subject matter is topical, relevant. Detailed accounts of family life and life outside the home in the New South Africa are brought into the conversations. The subject matter around the TRC is accurate and detailed and informs the audience of current issues and events. The subject matter unpacks the notion of truth and its importance, how each character experiences his or her own personal truth

The plot structureThis follows the well made play format

THE PLOT OR STORYLINE

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A family gathers for the funeral in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, of Sipho's brother, a political exile who has died in London. The few surviving members of the family gather - Sipho, Thando (Sipho's daughter) and Mandisa (the daughter of the deceased man). Mandisa has arrived for the first time in her family home bewildered by the foreign place that she has been told of all her life but of which she knows nothing. Out of this domestic situation, Kani teases all the complexities and contradictions of post apartheid South Africa, but all firmly grounded in gritty family conflict, unspoken secrets and half-expressed fabrication.

(Alan Swerdlow. Cue 5 July 2002)

The realistic plot structure follows the well made play format, with a clear exposition, logical cause to effect development, climax and resolution.

The plot is driven by the dramatic tension built through the conflicts which are evident within Sipho, between the characters and with the secrets and hurts of the past. The essence of realistic drama is conflict. It is the fuel that drives the plot and keeps the arc of tension tight.

The play is divided into 2 Acts: Act 1 sc 1 and 2 and Act 2 .

Act 1 sc 1

Sipho Makhaya is distressed. He returns home to wait for news about the arrival of his deceased brother Themba’s body from London, where he has lived in exile. His distress causes him to express his anger, jealousy and bitterness towards his brother, remembering all that Themba took from Sipho as a boy, as a man: his wire bus, his blazer, his education, his wife. His daughter Thando has also come home and we see that she is a devoted and caring daughter. Sipho anxiously calls Reverend Haya to make funeral arrangements.

Act 1 sc 2

Mandisa McKay enters carrying the unexpected ashes of her late father Themba. Sipho expected a body. This causes further tension. They discuss Themba. Mandisa cancels her booking at the Garden Court Plaza Hotel and stays with the family.

Act 2

Mandisa and Thando return from a day at the TRC hearings and discuss and debate the worth of the TRC. Sipho returns from a drinking at the shebeen and, provoked and questioned by Thando and Mandisa, he finally explodes in an emotional outburst in which he tells the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about the secrets of his past and his anger and resentment towards Themba. He finally resolves to forgive his brother and move on.

ACT 1 scenes I and 2 ACT 2 Early evening. Sipho and Thando have The next day, evening. The girls return

returned from a day's work. from the amnesty hearing. Before Mandisa arrives Sipho returns from the library, and the Return from airport shebeen.He has not got promotion. The house - kitchen and living room The same, the living room and kitchen.

The Well-made-play.

Each well-made-play was expected to have :

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- a clear exposition of the situation, where the initial situation was exposed to the audience

- careful preparation for future events. The audience had to believe that all the action was a logical development within the context of what they already knew about the characters

- unexpected but logical reversals in the characters’ circumstances as a necessary part of the dramatic structure.

- The audience still had to experience the drama of the unexpected, but it still had to be within the realm of the possible

- Continuous but mounting suspense- An obligatory scene in which the good were seen to be rewarded and

the bad were seen to be punished- A logical resolution or denouement (ending/completion/finale). This is

the unravelling of the plot, and tying up of all the loose ends of the play.

Nothing But the Truth as a well made play

Set in the year 2000 the play is written in two acts, and takes place in the. late afternoon and early evening of two consecutive days. The structure of the play is linear, based on sequential action. There are no flashbacks, the past is introduced through stories told in the present. Equally, there are no shifts in location. In terms of characterisation and dialogue it further conforms to the principles of realist writing.

Thematically and dramatically the play deals with the importance of the past in defining the present. Memories of childhood, tertiary education, the Stmggle, and of the life of the family are woven into the action and are the mechanisms by which a rich textured sense of the lives of the key characters, Sipho and Themba, are built up. The action develops through the gradual revelations of the hidden details of the relationship between Sipho, the protagonist, and his deceased brother. The play, with its single focus in terms of plot, its restriction to a single space, and its tight time frame thus conforms to the Aristotelian unities of time, place and action.

The text is crafted along the lines of the well-made play, with the first scene functioning as the exposition (see Chapter II - the development of the genre) and the second scene in Act 1 developing the tension. This is the complication (also addressed in Chapter II above). It remains then to identify how the play works in terms of developing towards the climax and resolution of the action.

Act 2 begins with an increased level of tension - Thando is the one who apprises us of the fact that the familiar routine has been interrupted. Sipho is not at home as she anticipates. Later, when he enters, it emerges that he has been at Sky's shebeen - drinking, breaking with his habitual teetotalism - and she establishes very quickly that Sipho has not been granted the promotion he so desires in recognition of his years of service, and his value in the workplace. The combination of these two factors adds to his personal strain, compounding the stresses of Mandisa's presence and Themba's funeral. Mandisa, too, is edgy; emotionally drained by the impact of the amnesty hearing.

Thando's choice

Early on in the Act Thando is asked to contemplate the opportunity not only of going to Johannesburg, but also to London. This, as she knows, and explains, is not a straightforward decision, no matter how tempted she is by the offer - her father's position on this will affect her decision. She is under considerable pressure from Mandisa to assert her own needs. This theme is significant as it is cmcial to the resolution and to the emotional through-line of Thando's character.

Thando is challenged by the contrast between her and Mandisa - their lives are so very different: Mandisa's independence and autonomy and her forthrightness in challenging Sipho's paternal assumptions present a challenge to Thando. She has to deal with Sipho's refusal to consider the request that she go to Johannesburg and London with Mandisa. Thando has undoubtedly bt:en a dutiful and considerate daughter,

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but these qualities are now tested. Her challenge is not a denial of the value of tradition in the sense of interrogating the notion of parental authority, rather it is an assertion of her rights as an independent adult in the face of the way in which Sipho exercises this authority. I've made up my mind. I am going to Johannesburg with you Mandisa. With or without your permission, Daddy. About London, that is another matter. I'll let you know later (p 45).

A series of revelations - a series of climaxes

Arguably it is this that triggers the crisis - from here on the momentum builds towards the climax. Sipho's response to Thando's decision is immediate, he recognises the 'taking' as the pattern of his life. He sees it as the culmination of all the ways in which Themba has appropriated what he, Sipho, has valued and cherished. He immediately launches into two long speeches: the story of his displacement at his father's funeral and the last time he saw Luvuyo, his son. In both instances Themba's status as a 'Comrade', a 'hero of the Struggle', overshadows him - the responsible, caring, elder son, lacking the charisma of his younger brother. Despite brief protests and interjections from Mandisa, Sipho launches into a tirade that unsettles Mandisa thoroughly as he undercuts the reputation of her father as a political activist. .

Sipho's conviction that what he is saying is true emerges in the details; in the list of the various ways in which Themba 'operated', and in the texture of the writing, which allows for no interruption. It is a blistering attack, gathering momentum as the focus becomes increasingly personal, and closer to his own family. When at last he speaks of Luvuyo's death, Sipho draws the comparison between himself and Themba, from Luvuyo's point of view. By this point the tone has shifted completely, and allows for Thando's intervention. This provides Mandisa with the opportunity to ask the question:

What are you saying about my father? Are you saying he was a total fake? He was no hero?

. SIPHO: No. He was involved. He was in the Struggle, but on his terms. He gotwhat he wanted from the Struggle - money, women and fame (p 48).

This contrasts markedly with the earlier outburst - it is calm, rational and all the more persuasive in the quiet authority of the judgement that is made as the statement is uttered. I would suggest that this is the first part of the climax -- Sipho reveals the complex set of relations between him, his father, his son... and Themba. . . .

Thando, once again, prompts the action forward with her next question - why Themba left the country. Sipho tries to avert any further revelations, particularly since Thando has introduced the subject of her mother. Both girls bombard him with questions and, receiving no answer, start to exit. This action prompts Sipho to command them to stay.

The second climax comes in an entirely different way. This time Sipho begins with a series of rhetorical questions, and delivers the answer in a single sentence: 'Themba was sleeping with my wife', following it with the equally succinct statement: 'Your-father was sleeping with my wife, your mother!' (p 49).

This line, with its triple pronouns, spells out the complex bonds that link the three of them way beyond conventional family ties. In the sequence that follows the shocked and emotional reactions of the girls contrast with Sipho's deliberate control and restraint. Thando, despite Mandisa's attempts to stop her, pursues the subject further - again Sipho attempts to avoid the full disclosure, because it opens up the question of whose daughter Thando might be. Confronted with this, Thando exits, followed by Mandisa, who attempts to comfort her - they do not leave the stage but sit on the bench 'outside'. If the first phrase in the climactic sequences focuses on Sipho and Mandisa, in this, the second movement, the focus shifts to Sipho and Thando.

Alone in the lounge, the third phase of the climax begins. This confession is perhaps the most intimate and personal - Sipho is speaking about himself and his identity, in the past, and in the present. In the monologue addressed to Themba, Sipho traces his expectations and disappointments in the New South Africa. The speech spells out what it means to be allowed to vote for the first time at the age of 57 - in that the details of the two times that he has voted are imprinted in his memory as deeply significant dates and events. Articulating his rights as a citizen and his sense of entitlement, lead Sipho to the subject of his most recent disappointment - not getting the job as Chief Librarian. His questions move from what he

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might reasonably expect from freedom in the present and future, to his identity and role in the past. His is the role of the ordinary man in the Struggle, the 'little man' who is not noticed in the mass. He is one of the thousands - the man in the street. This leads him to a/point of resistance: 'No! No more! It's payback time. The taking stops right here and now.' He concludes that Thando is 'the one thing' that cannot be taken from him. He is right in this. Thando retums to confirm this conclusion.The fourth beat to the climax is socio-politically focused. Sipho launches into the way he would choose to see Luvuyo's death investigated and his murderers brought to justice. With mounting conviction, supported by Mandisa and to Thando's astonishment, Sipho identifies each phase of the prosecution, sentencing, and imprisonment that constitute justice. This done, amnesty can be granted. Mandisa disconcertingly introduces the question of Themba's 'guilt' in relation to Luvuyo's death, which propels Sipho in yet another direction: his status at the library. Janice Honeyman, in directing the production, called this section the' glee section'. 1 understand this to refer to the exuberance and exhilaration that makes Sipho positively buoyant as he anticipates justice for Luvuyo"s death and then either recognition of his right to the title of Chief Librarian, or the anarchic consequences that he momentarily imagines himself capable of.

'1 am going to blow it up' is promptly bettered by 'No! I am going to bum it down!' (P54). His imagination seems to know no bounds - he is thoroughly delighted with himself as he pictures the ways in which he will be satisfied, particularly since he seizes on the opportunity to prove that he will be entitled to amnesty himself on the grounds that his actions are politically motivated. He appeals to Thando to confirm this, but she refuses, and the final confrontation begins. This centres on Thando's insistence that she will infonl1 the police; she will prevent him from carrying out his fantasy, because she loves him.

The resolution arguably begins with the declaration of love, as both girls assure Sipho of their need for him. A long pause follows, establishing the shift in register. The silence is broken by Sipho acknowledging defeat - yet again he is eclipsed by his sibling. His repeated question , 'why', is surely rhetorical. ButMandisa, taking it literally, provides an answer: 'Because he loved you'. The mood and tone switch yet again with Sipho' s repeated questions, surely a sign that he is seeking assurance of 'brotherly love'. Assured of this, Sipho reveals his most profound personal truths in quick succession: he has long forgiven his brother and his wife.Mandisa then asks what is, for her, the most important question - she desperately needs to know whether her father was the true hero that she has believed him to be. Her inclusion of the all-important word 'truthfully' stresses how important Sipho's testimony will be. Sipho acknowledges his anger and jealousy but, most importantly, he rises above these to acknowledge that Themba was indeed the hero he was reputed to be. This resolves the tensions, at least as far as Mandisa is concemed, and the: physical action of the kiss on the forehead is a final seal of reconciliation. It is then Thando's tum to resolve the issues that are troubling her - her questions do not pertain to her mother or, indeed, to herself, but focus on the Sipho's intentions with regard to the library and to Luvuyo's killers. The order, for Thando, is significant and she receives no answer to the more important of the two questions. Sipho then expresses his real intention - to take early retirement - and reiterates his stand on the responsibility of govemment to the people. An awkward silence follows the 'Bravo' with which the girls laud the decision. This is yet another

Look at all realistic elements of this play. (see notes on acting)

CHARACTERSCHARACTER DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTER MOTIVATION (PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, MORAL, POLITICAL,

ECONOMIC)

It is obvious the characters of the play are vital to the play itself as they help the story unfold, In Nothing but the Truth there are only three characters and so the audience gets to know them well. Their differences also help highlight the different themes and issues dealt with in the the play. The characters are individuals and part of a family and representative of many South Africans and of humanity at large. The characters are 3-dimensional, we learn about their childhoods and personality traits. They are psychologically believable. We see a slice of their lives but believe they have a past and a future before the play opens and after the play has ended

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Sipho

Sipho might be considered the main character in the play. He is the anti-hero of the play. He is also the link between Thando and Mandisa and the other characters in the play as well as other characters such as Themba, whom we never actually meet but who is a vital part of this story. Sipho is now a bitter old man of 63. He obviously lived through apartheid SA, so he had to deal with the difficulties, prejudices and injustices forced upon “Non-whites”. He did not get the legal intern job at Spilkin and Spilkin and became a clerk instead. Although Sipho was a part of the struggle, he was one of the people who might be labeled “just one of the crowd”. Unlike his brother Themba, Sipho was not “a hero of the struggle”. Sipho’s deceased son, Luvuyo might have been ashamed of his father because he wasn’t a leader and maybe it was for these reasons that Luvuyo idolised his uncle, and attempted to follow in his footsteps, ending in his death. It is incidents like Luvuyo’s death and Themba’s sleeping with his wife and leaving the country never to return, that seem to have scarred Sipho, bringing him much unspoken pain, anger and loss. This is revealed at the climax of the play as Thando and Mandisa press Sipho into talking, talking about all the topics of conversation that he has for so long, kept silent about. When he does speak of this pain, you can begin to see why Sipho seems like a hard, cold old man. It is simply that he doesn’t want to lose anyone else he loves again, like he has before, i.e. His wife, his son and his brother. All these factors in Sipho’s past have contributed into making him a reserved, over-protective, and seemingly cold. One of his main loves in life, have been books. All he has ever wanted was to be the Chief Librarian where he works. Yet now, as the current Chief Librarian is retiring, and Sipho finally stands a chance to be the next Chief, his hopes and heart are bitterly shattered when he is denied this, because of his age. His hope in the Government’s promise of “a better life for all” is also disappointed. He finds personal liberation when he makes his own personal choices: to face the truth and move on. To open his own all new African Public Library in New Brighton.

Sipho – gift of the house.

Traditional: “You have embarrassed me. Hurt me. She should have asked me whether the family objected to my brother being cremated”. Costume.

Bitter: “Typical. Just like him. Always not there to take responsibility.”

Secretive: “everytime I try to make you talk about Uncle Themba you change the subject.”

Jealous and hurt: “At first my father blamed me for not stopping him”

Protective and Loving: “Oh Daddy you really spoil me”

Responsible: She says the library will be in good hands with me in charge”

Proud: “I could even manage the library on my own.”

Sipho Assistant Chief Librarian at the Port Elizabeth Public Library for 33 yearsBitter old man at 63Has secrets from his pastIn his youth he took all the responsibility and blame for Themba’s actionsDoes not like to talk about his brother Angry at the fact that his brother did not come home after the struggleDoes not like talking about his wife Sindiswa, or dead son LuvuyoHe hoped for the job as the chief librarian but failed to get it Does not take well to the news of his brothers ashes – accepts it after a whileWhen he fails to get the job he resorts to drinking – an old habit that will never dieJust another example of a recurring theme in his life – people have been taking from him his whole life – Themba, his parents, God and now this Leads a very difficult life with a lot of emotional baggageSupported Themba his whole life – put him through university and early years of lifeHe opens up to Thando and Mandisa after a night of drinking – story of Thando’s mother.When Thando and Mandisa speak about Thando going to London, it opens up a wound because he realizes that she will not come back and that this is another example of taking.

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His anger at his brother is released on to Mandisa The 2nd half of the play deals with Sipho opening up about all the issues that he has kept bottled inside over the years – his wife, daughter and brother.Sipho admits to being jealous, to missing and loving his brother and that if his brother had stayed in the country then the police would have killed himHe manages to find it in himself to go through the motions of anger, hate, love, passion, jealousy, annoyance and irritation all in the same time frameIn the end after experiencing the anger and pain of having all these emotions and feelings bottled up for so many years and not being able to speak about it, he finally acknowledges what happened and realises there is nothing he can do about the past but forgive.He accepts the events of the past and accepts that he will never get his brother back nor will he get true justice for his son or his wife. All he knows is that speaking about and letting out all of these emotions and feelings have given him peace of mind and the ability to admit where he was wrong to admit to his jealousies and other failures. It also allowed him the opportunity to come to terms with the fact that he will never see his son or brother again but he knows that they loved him and he loved them and that is all that mattered. The play deals with the TRC and that the Truth comes first, which in terms of Sipho will be him speaking about all his bottled up issues. Then comes Reconciliation which he finds in Mandisa and Thando and because of their understanding and him finally having someone to speak to he can now move on with his life. The play ends on his note, with Sipho’s new beginning – the hope of starting an all African library and burying his brother’s ashes.

Sipho’s responses to events in the play. eg. death of brother, Mandisa’s arrival and even his consumption of alcohol at the shebeen all drive the play towards its climax: his long outburst. In finding his own voice, Sipho is liberated and freed from his distresses, through having the freedom to express himself, facing the truth, taking responsibility and choosing to forgive-his brother, his wife, his employees. Through the character of Sipho, Kani puts the voiceless, faceless man in the street into a theatrical context. Sipho’s personal struggle is a liberation struggle. Sipho and his family reflect and radiate issues of society right to a national level (from struggle to TRC to personal and societal liberation)

Themba is granted a semi-heroic stature, both in terms of his status as an activist and by virtue of his compelling, magnetic personality. Sipho is the self-acknowledged, 'little' man who boasts no obvious social achievements. But it is his journey towards self-recognition and determination that makes him the protagonist.Sipho’s final words convey the impression that he will indeed set out to be the Chief Librarian of the African Public Library. This goal is proactive, it values both education and African identity and culture - it will celebrate the growth of African literature, and make it accessible to a new community. He emerges through the crisis of confrontation with himself and his demons a stronger man - he no longer ne,eds to blow up, or burn down, the public library in an act of revenge for not being recognised as meriting promotion- his self-esteem is located in a very precise sense of celebrating his own life, passion and community. Sipho's moment of triumph is shared with Themba, to-whom he outlines his plan. He is confident of the value of his project, anticipates endorsement from both the President and his brother, and locates himself within an extraordinary vision of a future. The political and the personal are fused in this moment of achieving stature and dignity.

Thando

Thando is Sipho’s only daughter and only living child. She has grown up with only her father to count on, because both her mother and brother left her in their own ways at a young age. It is because of only ever having her father, that Thando is greatly attached to him, and patient with him in all his seemingly cold moods, when he is actually just cutting off his thoughts of the past. For the most part of her life, Thando has grown up in a very different world then her father did, and thus is also a very different person that her father

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is. She grew up while apartheid was finally coming to a close, and she now helps out with the translating at the TRC. She understands the importance of this process, the asking for amnesty and the putting away with the mistakes of the past, and sometimes seems unable to understand why her father doesn’t want to join in the process too, yet she lets him do as she will.However, both Thando and Sipho have grown up with the traditional African homestead, where the father is the head of the house, and those in it must listen to his word. Thando is accepting and understanding of it, yet the influence of the Westernised world around them also plays a part in her personality. Although she adheres to what her father says, she is also a well educated young woman, who seems accepting of both the cultures in which she lives,Another important person in Thando’s life is her boyfriend Mpho, and although she loves him very much, it is clear that if Mpho wishes to ever ask Thando to marry him, he must accept her father too. This point, which comes out in conversation with both Mandisa and Sipho, really highlights the deep affection that Thando hold for her father, as well as her deep respect for him and his lifestyle.

Thando – love

Respectful: “I am home. I am sorry I’m late”

Loving: “You look good. Just like you’ve always looked. My dad. That’s enough for me. It’s going to have to do for her too and everybody else.

Inquisitively interested: “Come on Tata. Tell me more about him.”

Motherly and nurturing: “Let me fix your tie”

Has identity issue: “Oh yes, My mother, anothetr mystery, not a word , not even a letter from her. All Ihave is that picture of both of you in front of the library in town. Nothing else. You think she is still alive”

Politically aware: “I don’t know why I am doing this because it’s not for the money.”

Mandisa

Mandisa could almost be called Thando’s opposite. Growing up in London she had very little influence from the African culture that her father, Themba, came from. This also may be because her mother. Thelma, was from the West Indies. This cosmopolitan combination of cultures has resulted in Mandisa’s highly independent, almost feminist, spirit at times. It is clear during her conversations with Thando that she battles to understand Thando’s complete obedience to her father.When we first meet Mandisa she seems very casual and flamboyant. she is a fashion designer. She is also ignorant, much like Thando is, to why Themba and Sipho drifted apart. Her loyalty to her father causes her to anger quickly when Sipho speaks harshly of him, especially when he explains the relationship that his brother had had with his, Sipho’s, wife. In the beginning, when Sipho talks of his brother, Mandisa often refuses to hear it, demonstrating her complete loyalty as well as idolization of her father. Yet slowly she begins to see her father was not such a great hero, and that he too had quite a number of character flaws. This, however, does not detract from the relationship she had with him, it merely shows her another side to her father and helps her understand him better then she did before.Another point of Mandisa’s ignorance is her lack of knowledge and understanding of the culture in which her heritage lies. It is because of this lack of knowledge the she doesn’t understand why Thando obeys her father’s word without question, as if it were law. It is this ignorance too, that often leads her into fights with Sipho, because she does not understand the ways in which certain ceremonies, such as burials, take place in the African community.Mandisa’s attitudes and ideas, which are in conflict with Thando and Sipho, help drive the plot forward towards the revelation of secrets and the telling of “ the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth” at the climactic point of the play.

Mandisa – Addition to

Spoilt: “I did book myself into the Garden court plaza Hotel”LoudFlamboyantCosmopolitan

Daughter of Themba

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fashion designer mother West Indian lives in London brings fresh perspective on things outside view of TRC/ Apartheid/ Township life represents product of a mixture of cultures/ New SA name means ‘addition to the house’ extended family sheds new light on socio-political situations and inter- personal situations

What role does Mandisa play? brings Themba’s ashes Catalyst to Sipho’s development, probes Sipho for the truth creates conflict in Thando’s life, offering freedom and independence provides outside perspective on things: TRC, Sipho’s situation, Thando’s situation

Although there are only three on stage characters, there are others who play a part in the story and in

creating the realistic slice of life. The people who fill the play reflect each other in widening circles. At

the centre is the nuclear family, then the extended family, closely surrounded by' the neighbourhood or

community in the township. At a greater distance are the figures who are part of the broader social and

political environment. At this level the play becomes more complex as the text combines references to real

people, from different spheres. The effect of this is to heighten the apparent reality of the fictional

characters referred to, as well as of the key characters in the drama. This device is common in reaJist

drama. The play is also specifically located within a social context that is incontestably real. There is a

relationship between all the characters. The three characters who do not appear on stage Mr Khahla, the

undertaker, Reverend Haya and Mrs Potgieter, are not only referred to but even intrude into the household

by means of telephone calls. There is an interesting symmetry in the way the play is constructed around

four key characters: Sipho and Themba, the two brothers, and their respective daughters, Thando andMandisa.

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THEMES

Family relationshipsSibling rivalryTaking/loss and regaining IdentityExile and returnForgivenessReconciliationJusticeAmnestyFreedomTruth (as emphasised in the title and climax of the play)

Family relationshipsThe play develops around complex family relationships which are made so by secrets, jealousy, separation, loss and love. These relationships are healed through the unfolding of the play.

Sibling rivalryThis theme is closely linked with that of taking. The play is tightly structured around the succession of stories in which Sipho identifies what has been taken from him by his brother, Themba in many instances prompting the sibling rivalry. At the climax of the play Sipho lists what he wants to reclaim. Themba has taken from him:

his blazer [establishes that he feels that this incident encapsulates the way in which Themba dominated his parents affections and attentions, which are also taken from him].

his wire bus [an expansion on the earlier theme. This is shown with some humour rather than bitterness and grievance, family memories are clearly a central value for Sipho].

the opportunity for full time study at a tertiary level. the right to bury his father quietly and with dignity, the overt politicisation of this

significant family ritual is deeply invasive for Sipho. Luvuyo’s respect. His wife

At the end of the play, Sipho has regained his dignity and self worth by forgiving his brother and letting go of what ‘happened’. In letting Thando go (metaphorically and also to Johannesburg) he doesn’t lose her. This had been a fear, particularly because Themba might in fact be her biological father.

I always thought about the truth and reconciliation commission being a huge BandAid around the nation, and I wanted to address it within one family. I suppose people can identify with the family situation. They too, have unresolved issues with family members.

(Sunday Times 28 September 2003)Identity

The theme of identity is explored through culture. Mandisa Makhaya has changed her name to McKay to make it more British and ledd African. One’s name is fundamental to one’s identity. Sipho’s identity is rooted in his traditional Xhosa culture.

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Exile and returnThe theme of exile and return is largely played out through the contrasts between Mandisa and Thando and in the tensions between Mandisa and Sipho

JusticeSipho wants justice for Luvuyo. He wants Luvuyo;s perpetrators brought to justice. Mandisa wants TRC perpetrators brought to justice. It is debated in Act 2. The idea of justice versus forgiveness is considered. The Nuremburg trial option versus the TRC. Where would Sipho be if he had wanted justice rather than forgiveness? Where would SA be? Is the TRC a higher justice?

AmnestyAmnesty is defined as 'a general pardon, an act of oblivion'; it effectively wipes the slate clean. In a sense this is what Sipho grants Themba. It is like forgiveness.

ForgivenessSipho forgives Themba. This frees him.

ReconciliationThere is reconciliation through forgiveness and love. This is seen between Sipho and Themba, Sipho and his past, Sindiswa, his work situation, in the country as a whole and is deeply significance in order to find true freedom.

FreedomComplexities of freedom: (expectations, rights, hopes and dreams)The right to vote, expectations for the future, the dignity of recognition as an enfranchised citizen and the importance of playing a community and civic role are established as fundamentally important to Sipho. His hopes, his dreams with regard to recognition of his true worth at the Library in the two years before retirement are frustrated by the appointment of a young 'exile'. Rights and obligations, both within the family and in the public sphere, are at stake in relation to the notion of freedom. Sipho has always been the responsible sibling, liberating Themba from these obligations. The question Mandisa raises of having the right to enjoy life is one that Sipho has not addressed until this night of reckoning. The resolution of the play also introduces 'freedom' at an entirely personal level: Sipho is liberated from the secrets of the past; the anger and guilt that have been at the core of his closest relationships. In each instance the broader socio-political frame is counterpointed by the personal. Thando is also faced with the contradictions that freedom implies: her role at the hearings, and her conviction about the value of the process interrogates the debates around freedom at the national and political level. But faced with 'freedom' in the personal sense, being granted leave to go to Johannesburg, and, one suspects, to London, she is the one who is overwhelmed, speechless, prompting the line that explicitly articulates this themeUltimately the vision for the future with which Sipho ends the play demonstrates his grasp of what freedom means - disappointment need not trigger the violent destruction of what he values, nor does it mean that he is obliged to continue, unassertive and compliant. He has a choice. This choice, as he defines it for himself, assumes taking on a responsibility and care, a service to the community that values him, and therein lies the real reward and the dignity.

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Truth“The truth shall set you free”

In facing and speaking the truth, Sipho is able to purge his demons and be free to move on. When Sipho's experience of personal betrayal, the diminution of his sense of self worth, his dignity, is shared it is acknowledged and thus 'confirmed as real' - when he shares the family story with the 'two girls. This 'takes care of the past' and establishes the foundations for the future of the family. This is a parallel with the TRC when victims’ experiences are acknowledged by the perpetrators and by the commission. Confrontation, identifying and acknowledging past trauma rather than repressing it, was deemedto be central to the process of healing. 'This is not to be obsessed with the past. It is to take carethat the past is properly dealt with for the sake of the future.' (Desmond Tutu)

THE TITLENothing but the Truth

The significance of the title operates on many levels. It reflects the thematic truth revealed through the course of the play, Sipho’s truth, the truth of the family. It also refers to Sipho’s climactic outburst in which he challenges Thando and Mandisa to hear ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ when he finally tells them the harsh realities of their family which had remained secrets for so long. The gravity of the situation is characterised by the use of courtroom terminology and his revelations are like a courtroom statement, a confession of a kind. This solemn and serious acknowledgement of the importance of the truth is also a component of the TRC hearings and an integral part of the healing process, which requires facing the truth, speaking the truth, forgiveness and reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation is part of the play as a whole. The reference to truth is also embodied in the genre of the play as realists believe that ‘truth is the highest form of morality’.

5. THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE

STAGINGThe staging of this realistic play is in the hands of the director and his or her creative vision for the production. However the style of the play would influence the staging. Staging a play involves the process of taking the play from the page to the stage. Lighting,blocking, genre, all elements of a play come to life in the staging.

THE SETTING

The setting is the unspoken environment of the play. The setting will immediately give the audience a feeling of where and when the play is set, and so many other aspects of the world in which the play is set, which is not expressed in words, but rather shown.In this realistic play, the setting is the environment for the action.

Place46 Madala Street, New Brighton. As the lights go up, we see the township home of Sipho and Thando Makhaya. It consists of four small rooms: a kitchen, lounge and two bedrooms. It is taken that the bathroom is located outside the house, as with most township houses. The house is only 7,2 metres by 3,6 metres and these dimensions are accurately depicted on stage. The building is made out of ash blocks, a common, cheap building material used in government funded houses. All of this is informs us how the Thando and Sipho live, their economic status and the kind of community they live in. The small house has a warm, intimate feel to it, well cared for. The books suggest educated inhabitants. It also acquires this feeling by the warm lighting used, and the way the actors move freely and comfortably around the set, like one would in a place where they are at home.

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The detailed set design and description are brought to life on stage

TimeThe play is set in post-apartheid South Africa. A time of change, of looking back in anger and looking forward in hope. A time of democracy without the barricades of law and prejudice. People are free to go where they want, live where they want and be who they want. (But are they? What limits them, holds them back?) South Africa is a place of freedom, allowing people to return home from exile, allowing equal opportunity for all. Another factor to think about when it comes to time, is that most of the action takes place in an evening setting, when people return from work, and homes light up and families gather together. This effect is achieved, yet again with warm lighting. In Act 1 sc 1 Thando and Sipho come home from work, and discuss their day. The reflection that evening brings is extended in the play, not only to the past day, but the life lived by Sipho and his past. This slowly comes out throughout the few days in which the play is set.

THE STAGE TYPE

PROSCENIUM ARCH OR PICTURE FRAME STAGE

THE SET

REALISTIC BOX SET DESIGNED BY SARAH ROBERTS

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LIGHTING

The mechanics of the lighting are concealed behind the proscenium arch. Interior lighting depicts evening, with electric lights to switch on as the characters enter the house. The lighting to depict the sky around the house could be a blue lit scrim or cyclorama.

SOUND EFFECTS

Realistic sound effects enhance the overall illusion of reality. Seagulls cry in the distance. The telephone rings.

COSTUMES AND PROPS

These also add to the illusion of reality and reflect the social and economic status of the characters, as well as their personalities and professions.

Sipho could wear a conservative, smart, well worn suit, probably a dark colour, a hat to show respectability, well shone, cared for shoes, a good quality, probably leather but re soled and heeled. A conservative white shirt, braces, may carry a folder or briefcase. All these choices reflect his age, personality, social and economic status.

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Thando would also possibly dress fairly conservatively to reflect her respectful demeanour and profession as teacher and TRC translator. With some muted colour as she is still young and has a boyfriend. Sensible court shoes.

Mandisa would contast the two locals with a flambuouyant, cosmopolitan London look which would mirror her flambouyant, loud nature and foreign accent as well as her profession as a fashion designer.She might wear boots and has a portfolio bag for her sketches as wellas luggage as she has just arrived.

ACTING THE PART

Actors in this realistic play would use these main points of Stanislavski’s System:

THE STARTING POINT: IMAGINATION Stanislavski proposed that the actor use his imagination in order to realise the

inner life of a character by exploring the following elements:

1 . GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES A person’s psychological and physical behaviour is subject to the

external influence of his environment An action makes clear how a certain character reacts in a given

circumstance The actor must become familiar with the environment of the play to the

extent that he becomes part of it Before you can make your audience believe that what they see on

stage is ‘real’, you must think about all the details that affect the scene.

HOW does a scene fit into the rest of the plot? The time and place of the scene. WHY are you doing the scene? HOW do you feel about the action in the scene? The set, costumes, props.

The lighting and sound effects used to enhance the scene. It is only after you have studied all the given circumstances that you will

be able to decide on actions that will involve your emotions and personal experiences

This includes: the plot of the play, the age, the time and the place of the action the conditions of life the director’s and the actor’s interpretation the setting the props the lighting the sound effects

2. PHYSICAL ACTIONS Begin by looking at your character’s physical life.

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It is important to find out what actions are stated and what actions are implied.

What other actions are needed (using your own imagination)? Only act within the given circumstances of the playwright. You cannot act out an emotion: the emotion will eventually come with

the action. Actions are controllable and therefore easier to work with. In action you need to know:

What you are doing Where you are doing it When you are doing it Why you are doing it

Small physical actions on the stage are very important.- The actor must believe in them and try to do them as consciously as

possible. He demanded that actors know exactly what they should be doing

on stage at every moment and why they are doing it. Every action should have a purpose. Your character’s intention should be made clear through the

action.

Divide your actions into STEPS:STEP ONE:

o Make a list of the physical actions for your character in his/her given circumstances

o Ask the question: What would I do if I was this character in these given circumstances?

o The physical actions should form a logical sequence.o It should be complete and have no gaps that would make it

difficult to go on to the next action.

STEP TWO:o Practice your physical score of actions using pace or tempo and

rhythm.o Use these to create an inner mood for both yourself and the

audience.o Try to use a different tempo and rhythm for each action and

become aware of how it changes as you move from one action to the next.

o Tempo and rhythm must correspond to the given circumstances as well as to the character.

o The correct tempo/rhythm will help you make your actions more truthful as it will stir your emotions.

3. PHYSICAL SCORE OF ACTIONS

LIST UNITS TEMPO-RHYTHM List physical

actions by asking: What would I do…

Number the actions

Create logical

Divide sequence into units using a beginning, middle and end.

Give each unit a meaningful name.

Combination of speed of execution and rhythmic flow of physical action.

Be conscious of how it changes.

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sequence Ensure that you

are physically and psychologically capable of carrying out the actions

Clear the transition between units: unit ends with terminal point and new one begins with firmly positive attack.

Experiment with different tempo-rhythms.

Variation.

4. CONCENTRATION Drama is fundamentally one character’s attempt to force his will upon

another. This supplies the essential element of conflict. This character connection is accomplished through concentration. The actor concentrates on using his actions and his lines to get what his

character want from the other actors in the play. One needs intense concentration in order to become a real and

believable character different from yourself. You need to focus your attention on a specific stage task. You also need to turn your attention towards other actors. You need to make a connection with other actors in the play. The art consists on concentrating on what is said by hearing and

responding to it at each rehearsal and performance as if he had never heard or spoken it before.

To excite an audience, actors must excite one another.The actor must concentrate his attention on what is happening on the stage and not be distracted by the ‘black hole’ where the audience is. Relax and focus. Focus your attention from the smallest ‘circle’ surrounding you, and

slowly expand your focus to include ever increasing areas. (Circle of Attention)

You will be able to ‘live’ in the environment on stage.

5. THE MAGIC “ IF ” Imagine that these events on stage could take place. Ask the question: “What would I do if….” The “magic if” question helps to change the character’s aims into the

actor’s aim. It helps to carry the actor into the imaginary circumstances.The magic ‘if’.

- The actor knows that the play and the setting are ‘unreal’, but he says to himself: how would I behave if they were real?

- Asking this question helps him transform the imaginary world of the play into a real one.

- Believe in the role you are playing.- As soon as we live the situation, we respond in a manner that re-

enacts real life.To help the magic ‘if’, an actor needs a strong imagination.

- He must ask himself questions about the part he is playing and in performance fully understand what he says and does.

- Believe in the character you are playing on stage.25

- Convey this ‘reality’ to the audience.- You must have a clear picture of which your character is, achieved

by creating a detailed history for your character.- Who is my character?- How old is my character?- Where does my character come from?- What does my character want, and why?- Where is my character going?- What will my character do when he gets there?

6. PURPOSE AND INTENTION Actions must be truthful, believable, logical and fit into the given

circumstances. Actions must be purposeful. You must look at both what the playwright has given you as well as your

own experiences. After each physical action you must complete the “I want to….” or the “I

must…” sentences. It must be completed with an action verb.

7. EMOTION MEMORY The technique of using images and imagination is important. If we imagine or picture something it may lead to action, to belief and

to feeling. Most of these images are memories of past experiences. Stanislavski believed that one should recall the sensory experiences of

the situation and try to remember what we did. We should remember to use the experience that we have recalled only

within the given circumstances. If, on occasion, the techniques of physical action, intentions and

relationships do not invoke the desired responses, the actor may need to bring his past experience directly to bear on the situation.

To bring truth and conviction to his portrayal of a character, an actor should draw on his emotional memory (the store of emotional experiences lying dormant in his subconscious mind.

Actors tap into their own experiences and emotions when creating a character.

Remembering how you felt and behaved will help you understand how to play a specific character on stage.

This technique involves FIVE steps: The original experience: must be one you felt deeply Retaining the experience: natural memory as well as conscious

effort Selecting an experience that will be useful in solving the

problem: something that is most parallel to those of the character Recalling sensory and physical details Using the experience within the given circumstances: use

the response that the memory has evoked26

Principles:

The actor’s body and voice must be thoroughly trained and flexible so that they can respond instantly to all demands.

The actor must be skilled in observing reality so that he can build his role truthfully through the careful selection of lifelike action, business and speech.

The actor needs to be thoroughly trained in stage technique so that he can project his characterisation without any sense of artificiality.

The actor must undergo psychological training of a rather complex nature so that he may imagine himself in the situation of the character he is playing. In doing so he may call on emotion memory (the ability to recall emotional responses comparable to those required in the dramatic situation).

If the actor is not merely to play himself on stage, however, he must have a thorough knowledge of the script. The actor needs to define his character’s basic desires and motivations:

- in each scene, - in the play as a whole, and - in relation to other characters.

The character’s primary goal or motivation is called the through-line, since the rest of the characterisation must be built on it. The actor must understand his role so thoroughly (every detail of background, feeling and action) and he can believe in its truth.

To make the character thoroughly comprehensive and believable, the actor at times may have to fill in or invent details omitted from the script.

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A complete understanding of the play should lead the actor to subordinate his own role to the demands of the whole and to co-operate in achieving an ensemble effect for the entire troupe.

All of his work onstage should be welded together through concentration.

- the actor must focus his entire attention on the unfolding events moment by moment and

- strive to convince the audience that he is involved in a situation that is occurring spontaneously for the first time

- he should concentrate upon imagining, feeling and projecting the truth of the stage situation

The actor must be willing to work continuously to perfect himself as an instrument.

- The actor must perfect his performance in each play.

The System

urges the need for devoted and constant effort on the part of the actor

a performer is successful only when he can convince the audience of the truth of the stage situation

this conviction results only from intense training and endless striving for perfection

It is essential to relax muscular tensions, particularly in moments of strong dramatic emotion.

Good communication between performers on stage is achieved by activating the senses, particularly by listening attentively and looking directly and consciously.

An actor must use his intellect to understand the text of the play.- He must have the will and determination to follow his path through.- He must also have enough feeling for the part to make it convincing and

truthful on stage. An actor does not identify with his part completely.

He ‘lives, weeps and laughs on the stage, and while weeping and laughing he observes his laughter and tears.’

‘Love art in yourself, not yourself in art.’

Stanislavski's techniques.

1. Relaxation When he observed the great actors and actresses of his day, Stanislavski noticed how fluid and lifelike their movements were. They seemed to be in a state of complete freedom and relaxation, letting the behaviour

28

of the character come through effortlessly. He concludedthat unwanted tension has to be eliminated and that the performer at all times attain a state of physical and vocal relaxation.

2. Concentration and Observation Stanislavski also discovered that gifted performers always appear fully concentrated on some object, person, or event while onstage. Stanislavski referred to the extent or range of concentration as a circle of attention.

This circle of attention can be compared to a circle of light on a darkened stage.

The performer should begin with the idea that it is a small, tight, circle including only himself or herself and perhaps one other person or one piece of furniture.

When the performer has established a strong circle of attention, he or she can enlarge the circle outward to include the entire stage area.

In this way performers will stop worrying about the audience and lose their self-consciousness.

3. Importance of Specifics - One of Stanislavski's techniques was an emphasis on concrete details.

- A performer should never try to act in general, he said, and should never try to convey a feeling such as fear or love in some vague, amorphous way.

- In life, Stanislavski said, we express emotions in terms of specifics: an anxious woman twists a handkerchief, an angry boy throws a rock at a trash can, a nervous businessman jangles his keys.

- Performers must find similar activities.

- The performer must also conceive of the situation in which a character exists (which Stanislavski referred to as the given circumstances) in term of specifics.

- What kind of space does an event take place: formal, informal, public, domestic?

- How does it feel? - What is the temperature? - The lighting? - What has gone on just before? - What is expected in the moments ahead? Again, those questions must be answered in concrete terms.

4. Inner Truth An innovative aspect of Stanislavski's work has to do

with inner truth, which deals with the internal or subjective world of characters - that is, their thoughts and emotions.

The early phases of Stanislavski's research took place while he was also directing the major dramas of Anton Chekhov. Plays like The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard have less to do with external action or what the characters say than what the characters are feeling and thinking but often do not verbalize. It becomes apparent that Stanislavski's approach would be very beneficial in realizing the inner

29

life of such characters.

The magic if . a. If is a word which can transform our thoughts; b. through it we can imagine ourselves in virtually any situation. c. "If I suddenly became wealthy..." "If I were vacationing on the

Caribbean Island..." "If I had great talent..." "If that person who insulted me comes near me again..."

d. The word if becomes a powerful lever for the mind; e. it can lift us out of ourselves a give us a sense of absolute

certainty about imaginary circumstances.

Action Onstage

An important principle of Stanislavski's system is that all action onstage must have a purpose.

This means that the performer's attention must always be focused on a series of physical actions linked together by the circumstances of the play.

Stanislavski determined these actions by asking three essential questions: What? Why? How?

An action is performed, such as opening a letter (the what). The letter is opened because someone has said that it contains extremely damaging information about the character (the why). The letter is opened anxiously, fearfully (the how), because of the calamitous effect it might have on the character. These physical actions, which occur from moment to moment in a

performance, are in turn governed by the character's overall objective in the play. Action always has movement, tempo and a specific rhythm. Different rhythms create dramatic tension and a dramatic conflict

within your character and conflicting tension between your character and the group.

Refer to subtext of the play.

6. Through Line of a Role According to Stanislavski, in order to develop continuity in a part, the

actor or actress should find the super-objective of a character. What is it, above all else, that the character wants during the course of a

play? What is the character's driving force? If a goal can be established toward which the character strives, it will

give the performer an overall objective.

From this objective can be developed a through line, which can be grasped, as a skier on a ski lift grabs a towline and is carried to the top. Another term for through line is spine. This is the super-objective = the main and over-all objective in a

play.

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It would be what the protagonist wishes to have achieved by the end of the play.

Secondary objectives all build towards what you want to achieve by the end of the play.

The continuous chain of smaller objectives that build towards the main, over-all objective is called the through line of action.

To help develop the through line, Stanislavski urged performers to divide scenes into unit (sometimes called beats). In each unit there is an objective, and the intermediate objectives running through a play lead ultimately to the overall objective. A play can be broken down not only in scenes, but also into

smaller units of action, defined by their own objective. Define these objectives through a verb.

A short flow of action should have an objective and is seen as a unit of action.

7. Ensemble Playing Except in one-person shows, performers do not act alone; they interact

with other people. Stanislavski was aware that many performers tend to "stop acting," or

lose their concentration, when they are not the main characters in a scene or when someone else is talking.

Such performers make a great effort when they are speaking but not when they are listening. This tendency destroys the through line and causes the performer to move into and out of a role. That, in turn, weakens the sense of the ensemble - the playing together of all the performers.

The actor would create a physical score of actions which would be repeated each performance.

The actor would work out the super-objective of his or her performance, the overall aim, and work towards portraying this on stage by working on the through line or motivation for each action.

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REVIEWS

Truth & reconciliationJohn Kani tells a South African storyBY CAROLYN CLAY

Nothing But the TruthBy John Kani. Directed by Janice Honeyman. Set and costumes by Sarah Roberts. Lighting by Mannie Manin. With John Kani, Warona Seane, and Esmeralda Bihl. Presented by the American Repertory Theatre as part of its South African Festival, at the Loeb Drama Center through January 30.

In the piece, which is set in 2000, Kani plays 63-year-old Sipho Makhaya, a stoic if cantankerous black South African who after raking an unjust past over the coals becomes his own truth-and-reconciliation commission. Sipho, long-time chief assistant librarian at the Port Elizabeth Public Library, is about to learn whether he will at last get the top job. At the same time, he and daughter Thando are awaiting the arrival of Sipho’s charismatic younger brother, Themba, a "hero of the struggle" who went into exile long before it was over and, having died in London, is returning home to be buried. Accompanying Themba (whose appearance in an urn rather than a coffin horrifies his brother, who had planned a traditional funeral complete with the slaughtering of an ox) is his thoroughly Anglicized daughter Mandisa, a hip young fashion designer who grew up amid the insular safety of the exile community, witnessing the end of apartheid and the subsequent drama of non-violent forgiveness as if through binoculars.

In this Fugard-scaled drama of unresolved sibling rivalry, Kani examines the complicated skein of reunion and resentment that exists in the South African community between those who stayed, suffered, and agitated — perhaps not spectacularly enough to be detained or forced to flee the country — and those who went into exile until the beast was dead and then came home to dance over the corpse. Moreover, Kani serves notice to the present democratic government that much is yet expected. "I paid for this freedom," cautions Sipho, who lost a son to police brutality. "They must never forget the little people like me — who make up the majority that has kept them in power and will still do so for a long time to come." And the actor, who has wrung comic charm from both Sipho’s patriarchal stubbornness and his starchy reserve, rises powerfully to the occasion of the character’s finally letting loose, demanding back from his dead brother everything from a stolen toy and a father’s love to a dead son and a share of the mantle of heroism. The domestic revelations that emerge once Sipho decides to spill "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" are not terribly surprising, following as they do numerous pregnant hints. And the staging of the play by Janice Honeyman, with the three actors often grouped in conversation-pit formation with Kani at the center, is no more nuanced than the soap-operatic secret at the heart of Sipho’s resentment of his brother.

Still, the play emerges eloquent and moving. There are aspects that resonate personally for Kani, whose own younger brother, to whom the play is dedicated, was shot, like Sipho’s poet son, by government forces while reciting verses at the funeral of a student killed during the uprisings of the 1980s. But the gift of Nothing But the Truth lies in its ability to encompass a sensitive national dynamic in the colorful confines of a small living room in a concrete-block house in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, where Sipho has struggled bravely if modestly all his life while Themba, also a hero if an unabashed "taker," yearned for its earthy smells from afar.

Moreover, in the play’s contrast of respectful Thando, her hair in bright kerchiefs, her belief in the post-apartheid choice to forgive rock-solid, and disruptive Mandisa, with her Camden Town accent, leopard portfolio, and quick-trigger outrage, Kani captures the clash between African tradition and "humanity" and rampant international influence. The good news is that the two women, sharply played by a regal Warona Seane and a saucy Esmeralda Bihl, bond.

Still, Nothing But the Truth belongs to playwright and actor Kani. A self-described storyteller, he so invests himself in his tale of a decent citizen of a democratic South Africa, one who has known heinous injustice but is trying to steer between the human need for revenge and the country’s for healing, that a slight clumsiness in the telling hardly matters.

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Kani Tells Nothing But the Truth at Newhouse, Dec. 7

By Robert Simonson07 Dec 2003

Lincoln Center Theater, which regularly books productions of English plays, will begin its 2003-04 season at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater with Nothing But the Truth, a South African drama by playwright and actor John Kani. Opening night is Dec. 7. Previews began Nov. 15.

Truth takes place in post-apartheid South Africa and does not concern the conflicts between whites and blacks, but the rift between blacks who stayed in South Africa to fight apartheid, and those who left only to return when the hated regime folded. Kani will star with Emeralda Bihl and Warona Seane. Janice Honeyman directs.

Kani's work has played New York before. He and actor Winston Ntshona won a Tony Award in 1975 for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island. The two plays were presented in repertory at the Edison Theatre for a total of 52 performances. The production of

The Island was revived April 1-13, 2003, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where it again earned high praise.

Truth originated at the Market Theater in Johannesburg.

Tickets are $60 at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street) or at telecharge.com.

John Kani in Nothing But the Truth

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A.R.T. Artistic Director Robert Woodruff spoke with playwright and leading South African actor John Kani while Mr. Kani was in Los Angeles, performing Nothing But the Truth.

RW: How has your role as an artist changed since the end of apartheid in 1994?

JK: Pre-1994, all black South African artists were aware that our number one responsibility was to live in a free and democratic South Africa. So whatever kind of artists we were - painters, musicians, sculptors, poets, or actors - our work somehow echoed our desire and passion for freedom. In 1994 Nelson Mandela became the first president of South Africa. That neutralized a number of scripts in the process of being written or about to be presented that were still demanding the freedom of black people. When the Iron Curtain fell in Eastern Europe, activists who had been famous because they were anti-communist became relatively ordinary people. South Africa went through something similar from 1994-1997. In 1998, we began to find our voices again. We began to understand that yes we have a black or majority government, yes we have a government we have appointed with a president or presidents we like, but our role as actors or artists has not ended. We still continue to be the voice of the conscience of our society. And we have also been liberated to do No, No, Nanette without feeling guilty about neglecting the cause!

RW: Nothing But the Truth is the first play you've written on your own. Why did you write it now and not ten years ago?

JK: Ten years ago I had a number of different roles. I was a political and cultural activist, working on government and community projects to establish structures that would serve artists and communities. I led the Market Theatre [in Johannesburg] as the Executive Director/Artistic Director. I was the Founding Chair of the National Arts Council from 1996-2004. And I was also the Founding Chair of the Apartheid Museum. But now I've found the time at last to go back my favorite pastime, which is storytelling. My passion for storytelling is the reason I met Athol Fugard in 1965. When I saw his company perform Antigone, I thought that Sophocles was a very good storyteller. And I read Shakespeare - I'm a great student of Shakespeare. He is just like all the great storytellers of Africa, especially South Africa - people like S.E.K. Mqhayi and Zakes Mda.

RW: In 1975 you won the Tony Award for your performance in Sizwe Banzi is Dead. What do you remember most about your collaborations in the 1970s with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona on Sizwe and The Island?

JK: The passion for the truth. Three men locked the door and elaborated on a tiny idea inspired by a photograph of a man in a white suit with a cigarette and lit pipe in a little African studio, where he took the picture to send to his wife or relative. But out of that came the most telling story of the South African people under the Apartheid regime. Out of that also came a new genre of theatre for South Africa that was later known as protest theatre, which became the voice of South Africa. I remember those moments with incredible fondness. I look at the way we work today in the twenty-first century with some kind of lukewarm caution. Things are relatively right. One almost wishes that they would get terribly wrong so we could again approach our art with that kind of fever and passion and immediacy. That does not mean we cannot do that. We have now found a new language, a new way of telling our stories, which still gives us the feeling of passion and commitment to our work.

RW: You have performed Nothing But the Truth in New York and are currently performing in Los Angeles. How has the reception there been different from its reception at home?

JK: The play examines a very sensitive reality for South Africa: reconciliation. The world applauds South Africa for having opted to go that way rather than tribunal hearings, retributions, and revenge. But in the people's hearts there was that little question: what if I could have been given just one opportunity to take my little revenge, even if it meant just slapping the man who killed my brother, without doing anything? That created such a wonderful interaction with the audience in South Africa. It's almost like everybody said, "You said exactly what I've been trying to articulate." And some said, "Yes, but I agree with you we needed to move forward." When Nelson Mandela saw the play he said to me, "A great family drama. A great human story. Political, but great human drama." Then we opened in New York, where we played to wonderful audiences at Lincoln Center. But what was not present there was how it touched the hearts of the

34

South African people who suffered and went through that journey. I'm very pleased with its reception here in Los Angeles. We have played to many members of the African American and Latin American communities. And everybody says it is the right play at the right time. People are talking about the role of family in the play. They're talking about gang wars. They're talking about the wars that are taking place right now. They're talking about this country. And they're talking about family secrets.

RW: What role do you think U.S. government policy plays in the political landscape of South Africa and, more generally, across the continent?

JK: The big economic powerhouses of the world are very important to Africa. African countries owe a great debt, not of gratitude really, but of dependency to the giant economic houses. The biggest item on our budget is the country's debt to the United States, England, Germany, France, the World Bank, and the IMF. That is why my president is passionate about finding a way to write off or reduce that debt in order to allow Africa to begin rebuilding itself economically. But we spent most of our resources paying the debt that we inherited from the colonialists and imperialists who occupied our land. Therefore, the role of the United States is very important, especially in South Africa. Many major companies like Ford, Chrysler, and IBM are creating work in South Africa and investing in the country. So we play a very careful game on the issues of Iraq or Afghanistan or Palestine. Nelson Mandela made it very clear that we could be friends with the United States, but that their enemies are not necessarily our enemies.

RW: What do you envision for yourself as an artist and for the country in the next ten years?

JK: In the coming decade we need to consolidate the achievements we have made in the first ten years of our democracy. We need to make our structure stronger, to create opportunities for artists on all levels and in all disciplines. We also need to make sure there are training academies available around South Africa that can accommodate the wishes and aspirations of young people who want to become artists, writers, painters, or sculptors. We need to create vibrant film, television, and theatre industries so that we do not look up to Hollywood as the only solution for our dreams and the only way our stories can be told. We also must encourage the wonderful philanthropists within South Africa to develop a culture of giving to the arts. And the government needs to give some tax incentive or write-off for those who give to the arts. As for myself, I will continue acting and writing. I have many, many stories that at the age of 61 I need to tell to my children and grandchildren.

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EXAM EXEMPLAR

QUESTION 10: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH BY JOHN KANI

10.1 Read the following comment made by Nelson Mandela after seeing Nothing but the Truth:

'A great family drama.A great human story. Political, but great human drama.'

Discuss ONE universal ('human') issue that is dealt with in the play. (3)

10.2 Sipho is experiencing inner conflict in his relationship with his brother and his position as librarian. By referring to Sipho's words below and the play as a whole, explain this inner conflict.

'The taking stops right here and now.' (10)

10.3 The photograph below shows Sipho embracing his daughter Thando while his niece Mandisa is looking on. Compare the two cousins, Thando Makaya and Mandisa Mackay, using the following:

Cultural understanding Relationship with the father figure Reaction to the TRC (amnesty) hearings

(12)

10.4 10.4.1 What stage type would you use for a performance of this play? (1)

10.4.2 Discuss how the personalities and careers of the characters influence the set design of the play. (4)

[30]

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MEMO

QUESTION 10: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH BY JOHN KANI

This question is a choice one from Section C. It tests LO 3:AS1, AS 2, AS 3. Total marks: 30

10.1 The candidate should name and discuss any one of the following universal issues (in bold): The play moves beyond the importance of the Amnesty Hearings. It engages not only with reconciliation, but with universal issues such as truth, justice and forgiveness. Other human issues that can be discussed by the candidate could include sibling rivalry (also brotherhood and trust between siblings) and perplexities of freedom (expectations, rights, hopes and dreams), family relationships (bonds of love between family members), truth (as emphasised in the title of the play), also the notion that in order to ensure that what happened to us never happens again, we should not forget.

(3)

10.2 The play is tightly structured around the succession of stories in which Sipho identifies what has been taken from him by his brother, Themba. This causes inner conflict in his life. At the climax of the play Sipho lists what he wants to reclaim. Themba has taken from him:

his blazer [establishes that he feels that this incident encapsulates the way in which Themba dominated his parents affections and attentions, which are also taken from him].

his wire bus [an expansion on the earlier theme. This is shown with some humour rather than bitterness and grievance, family memories are clearly a central value for Sipho].

the opportunity for full time study at a tertiary level. the right to bury his father quietly and with dignity, the overt politicisation of this

significant family ritual is deeply invasive for Sipho. Luvuyo’s respect. His wife

These are all introduced as memories of the past, and are confronted in the climax of the play. Forgiving Themba and reconciling himself to both past, present and future occurs when Sipho acknowledges his true feelings, about himself and his brother.

Another source of inner conflict is rooted in the fact that Sipho had many expectations and disappointments in the New South Africa. He voted for the first time at the age of 57 and the details of the two times that he has voted in his adult life are imprinted in his memory as deeply significant dates and events. Articulating his rights as a citizen and his sense of entitlement, leads Sipho to the subject of his most recent disappointment – not getting the job as Chief Librarian. He had certain expectations of freedom in the present and for the future. His role remains that of the ordinary man in the Struggle, the “little man” who is not noticed in the mass. He is one of the thousands, the man in the street. This leads him to a point of resistance: ‘No!No more!Its payback time. The taking stops right here and now.”

(10)

10.237

Marks Descriptor9-10 outstanding Candidate brilliantly identifies and understands the

inner conflict that Sipho is experiencing. The candidate demonstrates insight. All aspects are discussed.

7-8 good The candidate identifies and describes the inner conflict that Sipho is experiencing in a logical and comprehensive manner. Not all aspects are discussed.

5-6 satisfactory The candidate describes some of the aspects regarding the inner conflict Sipho is experiencing. The answer does not demonstrate insight and is not well structured.

3-4 elementary Very basic aspects of Sipho’s inner conflict are discussed. There are some glaring omissions in the answer. No logical discussion evident.

0-2 weak The candidate suggests very little (2) or no aspects (0) regarding Sipho’s inner conflict. Answer is not clear. Question is misunderstood by the candidate.

10.3Criteria for Comparison Thando Makaya Mandisa MackayCultural understanding

1. Respect for the dead, burial and mourning practices

2. Understanding kinship systems

3. Sensitivity to connotations of language in SA politics

4. In response to Sipho’s intention to destroy the library

1. observing appropriate customs for the dead, for herself, as part of a community, not just because her father might expect that

2. she and Mandisa are “sisters”

3. “student uprisings”

4. takes this seriously, disapproves, will prevent this by informing

1. the funeral is “ceremonial”- My father died two weeks ago. I”ve done all the mourning”

2. English understanding that they are cousins

3. “riots”

4. laughs, “ Great”

In relation to her father respectful of his traditional authority

humours him through the action

makes the choice that she is allowed to assert her needs.

Moves from “he won’t allow me to go” to

“blessing and permission” to go to

more independent clearly enjoys her

father, romanticises the township, and readily acknowledges that “he was a wonderful man”

Her father is a heroic figure for her – she has the tenacity to hold on to find out

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Jhburg. makes the decision to

go, with or without permission

the truth in this regard.

The Amnesty hearings – reactions to this

committed to the TRC process and structure.

stands for the principles of amnesty and what this achieves.

insider status with regard to the issue

unexpectedly emotional response

queries the notion of amnesty

outsider status “from overseas”

(12)

10.3Marks Descriptor10-12 outstanding The candidate identifies the differences between the

two cousins and motivates the discussion using examples from the play.

7-9 meritorious The candidate identifies some of the differences between the two cousins and motivates the discussion using some examples from the play.

4-6 elementary The candidate identifies a few of the differences between the two cousins, but does not discuss them. Only a few examples from the play are mentioned as motivation.

0-3 weak The answer lacks required information. The question is misunderstood. The answer is not logical and does not make sense.

10.4.1 Proscenium arch stage (1)

10.4.2 The set is designed according to Realistic conventions. The candidate should mention the following according to the clues given by the text. The house will be constructed along the lines of the box set. It is a four roomed house, two rooms for living [kitchen and lounge] and two bedrooms. Everything the actors touch or handle should be absolutely real, bought from second hand shops and furniture stores. This is following the “slice of life” presentation, even to the extent that the floor and furniture positions are a reconstruction of the real. The house could be located in a windswept landscape that suggests the surrounding atmosphere of the township, with its litter and thin dry soil.

As much as the house is representative of the standard plan and construction methods of low income housing – the developments of the Apartheid project – the individual lives of its inhabitants, Sipho and Thando, determine the treatment of the interior, with its modifications, improvements and furnishing. Sipho has a steady commitment to his job at the library, and to the interests of bettering his own life. He might have an electrical stove rather than a coal stove in his house. It could be a three plate stove that is connected via a simple three point plug into a power point - this detail is absolutely authentic.

The traces of the lives spent inside the home are useful in creating the texture of the home. These are the details that tell us about the characters, and have also a symbolic significance. The house is full of books and files – as Mandisa anticipates from her

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father’s description. This makes the interior somewhat unique – it speaks directly to Sipho’s remaining passion, and to Thando’s profession. The books underscore Sipho’s pride in African literature – he does not just have a job at the library to earn a salary – he is personally committed to the value of reading and education. Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom is preset on the coffee table. It could be used as a prop to reinforce the theme of the “ordinary little man” who has also played his part in the Struggle.

Mandisa arrives expecting to see the accumulated photographs that speak to her roots, and preserve the family history. On the old sideboard, individually framed and grouped are photographs, of Thando [at school, at University, with her first car] family aunts and uncles, grandparents… but significantly none of Themba. These details are crucial to the genre, but are also central to the action of the play. (4)

10.4.2Marks

Descriptor

4 Outstanding Candidate discusses the set design in detail and displays a clear understanding of how the personalities and careers influence the set design.

2-3 Average Candidate does not discuss all aspects of the question. He/she only focuses on either the set design OR only on the characters’ personalities and careers.

0-1 Weak Candidate does not understand the question. Answer is vague and disjointed.

[30]

Order level Percentage Marks QuestionsHigher order 30 10 10.2 (10 marks)Middle order 40 12 10.3 (12 marks)Lower order 30 8 10.1 (3 marks), 10.4 (5 marks)

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

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“The past will always have a powerful presence in the present. We must never forget, but this does not mean we must cling to the past and wrap it around us and live for it. We only look back on the past in order to have a better understanding of our present. This is one of the greatest lessons of Nothing But the Truth.”

Zakes Mda

The essence of realistic drama is conflict. It drives the plot and characters forward to their climax and conclusion..

Examine three areas of conflict that drive the plot and characters in Nothing But the Truth to show that this statement is true of this play.

Kani has described Nothing But the Truth as ‘Theatre for Reconciliation’. In a mini essay of approximately 200-250 words, justify this description by examining the subject matter and relationships in this play.

‘46 Madala Street, New Brighton, Port Elizabeth’ is the setting for Nothing But the Truth. If you were given the job of set designer, you would need to understand New Realism as a genre and the play as a whole. What aspects of New Realism and of Nothing But the Truth in particular would you consider when designing your set for the play? You may use sketches in your answer, which should consist of approximately 200 words.

“Theatre is able to reflect the society to itself like a giant mirror. The society learns from it.” How is this true of Nothing But the Truth?

John KaniHow does Kani use theatre to do just this, in his play Nothing But the Truth? What lessons do you think he hopes audiences will learn from it? Answer these questions in an essay of approximately 200-250 words.

“…so I looked into this process of forgiving and I found it very interesting and I thought I’m going to address it and I wrote a play called Nothing but the Truth. This play is an example of the forgiveness of a family within the life of a broader society, to understand how people have to forgive themselves, they have to come to some terms with themselves. Because if the hatred and the anger is in me, it doesn’t matter how much time, or how many times you tried to talk to me, if I haven’t freed myself from my own bitterness and anger, right or wrong, you are not able to reach me…”In this extract from a speech given by John Kani, he discusses one of the major themes and messages of his play. In an essay of approximately 250 words, show how Kani uses ‘the forgiveness of a family within the life of a broader society’ to address this ‘process of forgiving’ in Nothing but the Truth.

John Kani…has created a work that cuts to the heart of post 1994 South Africa…it is a subtle and humane play , both tragic and uplifting, that has been received with extreme emotion and appreciation by audiences. Matthew Wilhelm-SolomonComment on the above statement in the light of your knowledge of the subject matter and characters of Nothing But the Truth.

Nothing But the Truth is a play that tells a story that is, in a way, a personal and political, a private and public catharsis for Sipho and for the audiences who watch the play, as it deals with so many painful issues that find healing as the play develops to its climax and conclusion.Comment on this statement in an essay Kani has said: Theatre is the most powerful tool that we have today to effect change in this country, you can legislate, you can make your laws in this country, but as long as the

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actions of people don’t change, it’s a difficult situation. But theatre enables us in a creative process, in a way that so cleverly dealt that it brings us in one to say we don’t have to write a story and then we teach you a small lesson in life and people walk out saying ‘I understand’.

In what way has Nothing But the Truth fulfilled Kani’s ideas? Discuss this in an essay of approximately 200-250 words.

How is Nothing But the Truth an example of New Realism? In approximately 150-200 words, explain this by examining four of the following elements of New Realism found in the play.3.2.1 language and dialogue3.2.2 plot3.2.3 characters and costumes3.2.4 set and props3.2.5 subject matter

Nothing But the Truth is a fine example of the well-made play.3.2.1 Describe the typical structure of a well-made play3.2.2 How does this apply to Nothing But the Truth?

Sarah Robert’s set suggests a home almost blown apart by the characters’ emotions it contains. It is beautifully detailed, and it is a further tribute to the engrossing power of Kani’s play.

Darryl AcconeDescribe the set of Nothing But the Truth and give five reasons why you think it is an appropriate environment for the play.What characters’ emotions does the set contain? Give three examples from the play to substantiate your answer.

(Approximately 150 word paragraphs for each answer.)

The title of Nothing But the Truth is both significant and appropriate to the stories and subject matter of the play. Discuss the significance of this title in a paragraph of approximately 150 words.

“The past is dead. We must give it an appropriate funeral and move on to new and exciting things, springing from the lungs of freedom.” John Kani

How is this comment significant in the light of your knowledge of the plot and subject matter of Kani’s play? Discuss this in a mini essay of approximately 150-200 words.

Choose one of the characters from Nothing But the Truth. Describe this character and show how he or she influences the tension, themes and ideas contained in the play.Explain how you would prepare this character for performance, using Stanislavski’s method .

John Kani: actor, director, playwright, has made a significant contribution to South African Theatre. Discuss this contribution in an essay of approximately 200 words.

ORTheatre for Reconciliation of the post-apartheid era contrasts with the Protest Theatre of the Apartheid era. Discuss how protest plays differed from Theatre for Reconciliation and show/explain how the different socio-political backgrounds influenced these plays.

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Read, find info on the following:

Kani-his contribution to SA TheatreSA Background leading up to 1994

SA Post 1994-presentThe TRC-who what where when why how?

-history, aims, outcomes, cases: PEBCO 3 CRADOCK 4Chris Hani Janus Walusz Craig Williamson-who were they and what happenedNew Brighton- the township and its inhabitants, its homes and environment

The play- a history/ documentary of NBTT since its first performanceAfrican vs Western culture and traditions: marriage and death/ funerals

Funerals used as political rallies in the Apartheid eraTheatre for reconciliation vs Protest theatre

The ashes of apartheid don’t fit into a tiny box..Our aim is to find out what we can about this era of reconciliation, the people, places, aims and attitudes that fed change in South Africa. What change? Why reconcile? What is Theatre for Reconciliation and why is it valuable? Who is John Kani and what has he got to do with all this? And Nothing but the Truth……?? And me????????And us?????

What four things do we learn about in the exposition of the play?

As characters, Mandisa and Thando represent Western (new) and African (old) ideologies.Contrast these two characters in light of the above statement

Read the following extract and answer the question.Thando: Why didn`t Uncle Themba come back when most of the exiles came home?

Using your greater knowledge of the play, give four reasons in answer to Thando`s question.

In the ‘voice’ and ‘character’ of Mandisa write a letter to your mother in London about your experiences on arriving in South Africa, Port Elizabeth and New Brighton township; her first encounter with her cousin Thando and uncle Sipho.

In terms of what you understand about ‘Realism’ in theatre, explain how ‘Nothing but the Truth’ could be seen as a play of this genre.

Discuss the relationship between Thando and her father as revealed in act 1.

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