Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Subusiso Mamba, Tonderai Munyevu.
How far would you go to survive in a regime that treats you worse than a cockroach; that demands total obedience of your every waking hour and who can control every moment you make, only reluctantly allowing you to live your life as a free member of society once they have humiliated you enough. The mark of oppression stamped across a nation and deeply into the faces of those who are its citizens.
Anybody under a certain age will not really have understood the gravity of the situation in South Africa under the Apartheid regime and whilst not going into the situation of South African politics to wildly, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead deals with issues at hand with great solemnity, a fair amount of earnest gravitas and at many points, thanks to the superb actors on stage, a lot of smiles.
Both Subusiso Mamba and Tonderai Munyevu framed the play so wonderfully and with astounding energy; that once the part involving the photographer Styles was over, you could almost imagine everybody in the studio at the Playhouse Theatre checking their pulses and panting heavily for breath. Such was the pace of Tonderai Munyevu’s performance during the 90 minutes, drawing for breath was a luxury that you didn’t mind having for a while.
Matthew Xia’s direction is amongst the very best around. From his rightfully acclaimed work on Scrappers, which had Liverpool audiences hanging on every word, to this production, he grabs the onlooker’s attention with guile and scrupulous honesty. The trust in he places in the decency that dwells in the vast majority of humanity’s heart and thoughts is reciprocated by the gripped concentration they show in watching the show. In Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, that concentration is punctuated by the very acute and considered acting of the two men on stage. Alongside Rio Matchett, Matthew Xia is one of the finest young directors to call Liverpool their home and it is a real pleasure to attend something that they put their complete soul into.
Sizwe Banzi Is Dead is a story that can transcend the depths in which South African politics descended to untill the release of Nelson Mandela, it is a stark warning to the current generations that walk the Earth in relative freedom, that we are only ever one evil away from being in the same position, where might equals right and branding of a person’s identity on an industrial scale begins.
George Orwell once wrote that a vision of the future was to see a boot treading on a person’s face…forever, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead shows that despite their best attempts, there is always a sliver of hope; even if you have to relinquish everything you are.
Ian D. Hall