'Sizwe Bansi' at Run of the Mill

 

Sizwe Bansi is Dead has much in common with the other play being presented as part of Run of the Mill’s South African Play Festival, Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act.  And in that respect, Statements and Bansi are the perfect pair to present.  Both clearly depict the daily horrors of living under apartheid.  Both have a distinct pro-majority point of view. And both are based around the taking of a photograph.  In Statements, the photos were the actual impetus for the play, capturing the exact moment life would change forever for its characters.  In Bansi, the photo captures a moment just before everything changes for its main character.  And there, really, the similarities end.

Directed by David D. Mitchell, this intermissionless 90-minute piece drags a bit.  While this is not entirely his fault, he might have worked with his actors on more than accurate accents.  And they are accurate.  The problem is with one actor, the singularly named Mawk, in particular - he speaks with a rhythmic cadence that never changes, and it is a lulling cadence.  It is even more noticeable when he changes characters and he deepens his voice, but the cadence remains unwavering.  The other actor in the play, Sammie L. Real III, suffers from a different speech plight: lack of volume.  It forces you to concentrate so hard on his every word, that when paired with Mawk’s mesmerizing speech patterns it is nearly coma inducing.

What is not Mitchell’s fault is that the play itself, written by three playwrights (Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona), suffers from a severe identity crisis.  The key plot point, and there are only may be three total, is that Sizwe Bansi (Real III) must give up his traveling papers and remain in one territory of South Africa.  Figuratively, this kills Bansi, and thus the title.  In order to preserve what freedom he has, Bansi must make some very difficult, desperate decisions.  Sounds like the stuff of an intriguing, short play, right?  Well, it would have been had it not taken more than 30 minutes to get to it.  Instead, the play opens with an over-long monologue (delivered by Mawk) by a photographer named Styles.  In it, he details the lack of global thinking on the part of his race in South Africa, while reading us headlines from a newspaper, followed by some sweet anecdotes about how he came to be the photographer that is standing before us.  Interesting were it done in half the time, dull as is.  And that is mainly because one kept wondering when all of that background would come into play.  It never really does.

On the plus side, Mr. Real and Mawk are two of the hardest working actors on stage today.  Both work up quite a sweat, literally and figuratively.  And Mr. Mitchell’s physical staging is never boring, and often, quite creative.  He also has used his technical designers to give the blocking form and nuance.  Set designer Janine Vreatt again used the Theatre Project’s space to full advantage, at once showing great space between tableaus and still managing to give things a claustrophobic, oppressive feel.  Here, she limits the very tall (2 stories or more) of ceiling space by hanging large wooden beams in a graduated down manner over the playing area, and uses scenery on wheels to tighten spaces throughout the play.  Bob Dover’s lighting design is equally impressive, creating shadows and bright spots to define moods when the actors struggle to do so.  And at times he uses tightly aimed lights to create definite spaces within the larger stage area.

It is always perplexing when all of the parts are great, but don’t add up to a satisfying whole.  Such is the case with Sizwe Bansi is Dead.    Still, perhaps when viewed with its companion piece, Statements, it would come across more powerfully.  Fortunately, Baltimore theatregoers will have that very chance on Saturday and Sunday, December 30 and 31.  On those dates, Statements will be performed at 5PM and Sizwe will be performed at 8PM. Run of the Mill is to be commended for bringing these challenging works to us.  (There is a BWW discount avaiable for both plays.)

 

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