Go See Sizwe Banzi!

I'll keep this brief.  Soulpepper's current production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead is terrific!  Catch it if you can!

I saw the play many years ago in Chicago (2010!) in a more traditional staging (though possibly on a modified thrust stage), but this is done on a traverse stage with half the audience on each side.  It's a bit higher energy than the Chicago production, which is probably down to the youth of Amaka Umeh, the same actor who played Hamlet in the recent Stratford production (and Howland's The Wolves before that).  I wouldn't read up on the play too much (even the Soulpepper website has some unnecessary spoilers), but just accept that this is probably Athol Fugard's greatest play.  The play is mostly about the injustices of the passbook system under apartheid in South Africa.  This time around they are really highlighting the contributions of his two co-authors, as the whole play was built around their improvisations.  It is funny and frustrating at the same time, as the characters need to make impossible choices under a brutal, dehumanizing system.  Tomorrow's opening night is sold out, but there are plenty of other dates available here.  The play closes on June 18, though if it is a huge hit, they may add more dates.