Don’t miss John Kani’s highly acclaimed play Kunene And The King marking the 25th anniversary of the end of apartheid. With a strictly limited London run, following its premiere in Stratford-upon-Avon and a sold-out run in Cape Town, Kunene And The King tickets are sure to be popular.
South Africa, 2019. Twenty-five years since the first post-apartheid democratic elections, two men from contrasting walks of life are thrust together to reflect on a quarter century of change. Jack Morris is a celebrated classical actor who’s just been given both a career-defining role and a life-changing diagnosis. Besides his age, Jack has seemingly little in common with his at-home nurse Lunga Kunene, but the two men soon discover their shared passion for Shakespeare.
Kunene And The King is written by South African actor, activist and playwright John Kani (Black Panther, The Island, Sizwe Banzi is Dead). In September 1987, John played Othello in a production at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg – he was the first black South African to do so.
This refreshingly funny and vital new play is directed by Janice Honeyman (Vice Versa; The Tempest, 2009) and sees fellow South African Antony Sher (King Lear, 2016 & 2018; Death of a Salesman) perform alongside John Kani in two exceptionally moving performances, with live music and vocals by Anna Mudeka completing the company.
Kunene And The King has been written to mark 25 years since the first democratic elections that took place after apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid began in 1948, after the National Party came to power, promising to restrict the rights of black South Africans. Over the next four decades, the rights of black South Africans were curtailed further and further with education and marriage laws, registration acts and segregation. It took until the early 1990s, after international pressure, national protests and the death of many protesters, for apartheid to be dismantled. After elections in April 1994, on 10 May Nelson Mandela became the first black President in South African history.
Book now for this fascinating play, co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cape Town’s Fugard Theatre, as it transfers to the Ambassadors Theatre for nine weeks only from 24 January 2020. Grab your Kunene And The King Tickets here.