Samanthole Arts Foundation

  ‘How do you put a nation’s history on stage?’ is a question that comes to mind when engaging historically nuanced theatre productions such as Kunene and The King staged at the Joburg Theatre from 25 th May to 19 th June 2022. This play is written by John Bonisile Kani, arguably the South Africa’s most important theatre legend and also performed by him alongside yet another important thespian ever to come out of South Africa, Michael Richard. This piece is star-spangled in its entire outfit for it is directed by Janice Honeyman, multi-award winning artistic director with lighting by Mannie Manim, the co-founder of the Market Theatre with Barney Simon. On the stage, with the setup taking you into the house in a suburb of Killarney, the overture music by Sibongile Khumalo welcomes you, Theta Wathula Nje playing softly in the background. The song was originally composed by Victor Ntoni. Overture music on stage is there to prepare the audience of what is to happen, it is a reflection o