Woza Albert!

by Mr Percy Mtwa, Barney Simon, Temple Hauptfleisch

Woza Albert! is one of the most popular and influential plays to have come out of the South African cultural struggle of the 1980s and a central work in the canon of South African theatre. Working with the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ taking place in apartheid South Africa, the playwrights improvised a brilliant two-man show consisting of 26 vignettes, commenting on and satirising life under the apartheid regime. The play has become one of the most anthologized and produced South African plays both in South Africa, and internationally and is studied widely in schools as well as universities.

This Student Edition contains a commentary and notes by Temple Hauptfleisch, Emeritus Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains:


· A contextualised chronology of the play and the playwrights' lives and works
· an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created
· a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece
· an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text
· a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1983

Reviews

[grace fleming de torres]

This is a play that I read

[Rhona Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still maddening, still relevant. The cries of the oppressed still looks for a saviour

[Saintt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait for the day I am able to see this performed live.

[Rooi Hanswors · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good balance of keeping something interesting and getting a message across

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little hard to follow at times but wow. This 40 year old play is so relevant today.

[Amber Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait for the day I am able to see this performed live.

[Kat Hawthorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to see a production of this live so badly

[DB (DB's Guide to the Galaxy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in high school in Drama class and reading it again for college. Home field advantage? Of course. Had it for Waiting For Godot and will have it for The Great Gatsby.

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is hard because it's a judgement call. I liked the style of the play, and was very intrigued by it. I just feel like I didn't get as much out of it as was in the text because I didn't understand the cultural references. And, that's just the way it is. I didn't grow up in South Africa. I don't get it like I would if I did. Unfortunately, this fact played into how well I understood and enjoyed the piece. However, that shouldn't detract from it at all.

[Playground of Randomness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had such an interesting idea. Watching the play helps the content to make more sense but the book itself is a close second.

[tiernan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally one of the most important pieces of South African literature