Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (Style)

Style

Setting

Sizwe Bansi Is Dead is set in New Brighton (an African township) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1972. The action of the play takes place in three locations. The first is Styles’s photography studio located near a funeral parlor, where Sizwe Bansi (as Robert Zwelinzima) gets his picture taken.

The second is Buntu’s house, where Sizwe stays when he has nowhere else to go in Port Elizabeth. The last setting is the streets of New Brighton outside of the local bar. This is where Buntu discovers the dead body of Robert Zwelinzima.

Each of these settings emphasize the fact that these characters inhabit a certain part of South African society that places limits on the movements of its African citizens.

Monologue/Stream of Consciousness/Improvisation/Transitions

Large parts of the one-act Sizwe Bansi Is Dead consist of stylized monologues.

In the original production, the actor who played Styles, John Kani, was allowed to improvise his opening stream-of-consciousness monologue. As the script calls for Styles to read from and comment on a newspaper, actors who play the role sometimes update it to reflect topical concerns of his location at the moment. These touches allow Sizwe Bansi Is Dead to stay relevant.

Styles’s long monologue also introduces the themes of the play. In revealing some of his life story (how he came to own the photographic studio) and his opinions (how the photographs he takes allow the common person to leave something of themselves behind), Styles reflects on the results of apartheid.

Sizwe Bansi and Buntu’s monologues have different forms and purposes. Sizwe’s monologue is in the form of a letter to his wife, who lives in King William’s Town. Fugard uses the letter to give background to the story.

For example, in the beginning of the letter, Sizwe tells his wife that “SizweBansi, in a manner of speaking, is dead!” He chronicles the raid at his friend Zola’s and how he came to stay with Buntu.

The action shifts to Buntu’s house and Sizwe’s arrival there. Sizwe Bansi’s letter gives Sizwe Bansi Is Dead structure and organization. Each segment after the beginning of the letter is set up by such a Sizwe monologue.

Buntu’s monologues are more traditional. Most of them occur at his house, when Sizwe is analyzing his problem and proposing feeble solutions. Buntu counters every one of Sizwe’s ideas and chronicles long stories about recent events in his own life that are relevant.