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Contemporary South African plays

THE CHRONICLES OF JACK – CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN PLAYS

In Johannesburg, anything can happen, everything can change and everyone knows it. Jackson ‘’Jack’’ Makhubo, a 23 year old resident of the Eastern Cape decides that he will not be attending initiation school in the mountains and that he’ll instead be embarking on his studies in drama at a university in Johannesburg. Unfortunately his mother then throws him out of their family home making it possibly the last memory of home he ever has.

In The Chronicles of Jack a boy becomes a man in a way he did not expect when he is thrown into the chaos of modern Johannesburg’s university life. Jack is robbed, attends a ‘Fees Must Fall’ rally that has him subsequently expelled and discovers the true identity of his father, who has largely been absent from the boy’s life, all within the space of a week. It’s a harsh introduction to the city but as his best friend Fezi lamented before he left, ‘’It leaves room for Jack to be a better man. ’’

It’s either you get Johannesburg, or it gets you.

Author: Mbasa Tsetsana

Type: One act play in 12 scenes

Genre: Contemporary South African plays

Cast: Mains: 2M 2F, total cast: 8M, 2F. The other roles are to be played by the chorus members of the cast.

Ages of the actors: 18 to adult

Suitable for: Older teens/adults up to perform and all ages to watch

Length: 75 – 90 minutes

Set: Various – The Eastern Cape, The University. It is at the director’s discretion and can easily be performed in a black box theatre setting.

Level of Difficulty: 7/10 – A longer play without an interval needs to keep the audience riveted

Read a Sample of the Script

Cost is $5.50 for this new digital play script

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about The Chronicles of Jack

Copyright © December 2017 Mbasa Tsetsana and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other plays you may enjoy:

Chicken, Airbags and Wors – South African gay comedy
Extra Lessons – play dealing with the taboo of student teacher relationships
Finding my Root – South African drama monologue for a female

Dramas, One act plays

Waiting for Nelson – South African plays

March 30, 2014 Demmer Dewan Leave a comment

South African plays

WAITING FOR NELSON – SOUTH AFRICAN PLAYS

“Sometimes, life isn’t simply black and white.”

It has been 40 years since the 1976 Soweto Uprisings. Set in post apartheid South Africa, 21 years after the first ever democratic elections, the production centres on a couple who are faced with issues directly associated with issues that have historically, that currently and will probably affect future South Africans: RACE.

This play places a magnifying glass on a topic that still dominates societal discourse in this day & age – the colour of the next person’s skin. The aura and significance of the year 1994 came with many promises – many of which haven’t been fulfilled. The ‘race issue’, however, is one that every human being is capable of contributing towards solving, through simply undergoing a change in ways of thought – we just haven’t realized this yet. Waiting for Nelson is an important production that delivers a fresh avenue to be explored in the quest of achieving the sacred idea of a ‘rainbow nation’, through planting a seed of confrontation, change and redefinition.
When the theatre confronts us with brutal situations where ‘the life mask cracks and falls away’ it can expose an ‘intimate layer’ which returns us to common human truths.

After having its debut at the Roodepoort Theatre as part of the 2014 Youth Arts Festival (where the show won best drama of the festival), it went on to be performed at The South African State Theatre as part of the annual Youth Arts Festival, on the Fringe Programme. The show then went on to be performed to a sold out audience at The Market Laboratory later that same year. It was also read at the 2015 ASSITEJ/IATA annual Youth Theatre and Dance Festival at Artscape. After being performed at the first ever East London Arts Festival and being invited to the DUT’s Courtyard Theatre in 2016 as well as being selected to be a part of the SA Shorts II: #2MINUTE NOODLES, an initiative by UJ Arts and Culture, supported by Wordfest and the National Arts Festival where a 2 minute version of the show was read at the 2017 National Arts Festival, this provocative in your face production is ready to entertain you beyond your wildest imagination! This show is not a mirror of society, but rather a hammer with which to shape it.

FURTHER PRODUCTION HISTORY

Brescia House School, Johannesburg, South Africa – 2019

Read more about playwright Mbasa Tsetsana

Author: Mbsasa Tsetsana

Genre: Political drama script, South African plays

Type: Full length one act play

Number of actors: Eight, 8

Ages of the actors: Young adults 20’s-30’s

Suitable for: PG 14 – language

Set: Simple – Stage with a table and chairs

Level of Difficulty: 7/10 – the energy involved in this type of play is always very high.

Read a Sample of the Script

Cost is $8 for this award winning script.

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Waiting for Nelson

Buy a Performance License for Waiting for Nelson

Copyright March 2014 Mbasa Tsetsana and Off The Wall Play Publishers

Like this play? Other topical South African and African American Plays

Faith – an abused woman’s story in one act
The Pen – South African play script about love, reality and fantasy
The Pump Room – a post apartheid play

Dramas, One act plays

The Pen – South African play scripts

November 24, 2013 Demmer Dewan Leave a comment

THE PEN – SOUTH AFRICAN PLAY SCRIPTS

The Pen takes audiences on a trip into the mind of young playwright, Sipho, in the throes of writing a new play. Beset by writers block, the playwright is drawn into a relationship with Thandi, his Muse. Lured into a seductive journey, the boundaries between fantasy and reality become blurred as he begins to live in an increasingly illusionary world dominated by his sexy, assertive writing Goddess.

His girlfriend Pinky, innocently drawn into his tender reverie, suffers as she begins to understand the depths of his passion for Thandi, Pinky’s attempts to resuscitate their romance are frustrated by the fact that, unbeknownst to her, her rival in love is an ethereal siren, the perfect woman, the stuff of every man’s dream. Or is she?

“The Pen” was nominated as the best new play for the Naledi Awards in South Africa in 2010. Read more about playwright Monde Mayephu.

Author: Monde Mayephu

Genre: Drama, love story

Type: One Act Play

Length: One hour, 1 hr

Number of actors: Three, 3, 1M, 2F

Suitable for: PG 13 – descriptions of sex.

Ages of the actors: Young, 20-30’s

Set: The action takes place in a room full of books. Upstage centre there is a door leading to the bedroom and one door downstage left to enter the room.

Level of Difficulty: 7/10 – creating the difference between fantasy and reality.

Read a Sample of the Script

Cost is $7.50 for this previously staged digital play and award nominee

Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about The Pen

Like this play? Other South African Plays to choose from:

The Simple Hard – South African Drama Plays
the Pump room – a post apartheid drama play
You do love me, don’t you – a funny but scary psycho thriller in one act

Dramas, One act plays

The Simple Hard – South African drama plays

August 18, 2012 Demmer Dewan Leave a comment

THE SIMPLE HARD – SOUTH AFRICAN DRAMA PLAYS

South African Drama Plays – In ‘The Simple Hard, ‘ Bheksisa is disowned by his Stepfather, Mike and his mother, Masi, he is told to leave the house in the middle of the night. He is told that he has dishonoured the family name and brought shame to Mike, who is the head of his church, because he slept with his girlfriend, Thato, making her pregnant, but becoming HIV positive at the same time. Bheksisa is told that he now has ‘dirty blood’ and to leave and to never come back.

In anger, Bheksisa confronts his girlfriend, Thato and breaks up with her, even though Thato swears that he was the only one and she has no idea how she could be HIV positive. After he has gone, she takes her own life in despair.

A heartbroken, guilt ridden Bheksisa leaves his home and drowns his sorrows in beer. But he does not know that he has been framed and that his Stepfather, Mike has had the tests forged. Mike is blackmailing Bheksisa’s mother, Masi, to keep her quiet and to keep Bheksisa alive, because she has found out that Mike, who is the leader of his congregation is not the good person everybody thinks he is and he is dealing in human body parts and using them for Muti.

When Mike is arrested, Masi seeks Bheksisa out to try to make things right with him.

The author will allow workshopping of the play. This play has been performed at the SANTCA play festival. Julius Radebe has won many awards locally, in South Africa at national play festivals for his work, including “Best Ensemble production” at the recent Franklin Players festival, 2012.

FURTHER PRODUCTION HISTORY

Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa – 2017

Author: Bheki Julius Radebe

Genre: South African Township drama

Type: One act play, full length

Length: Ninety minutes

Actors: 4M, 3F

Ages of actors: 2 middle aged to older middle aged, 5 in their twenties

Suitable for: PG 14

Set: Simple – can be improvised with a few chairs which change position with scene changes

Level of difficulty: 7/10 – keeping the focus of the audience in this long one act play

Read a Sample of the Script