The Township Plays

AUTHOR :   Athol Fugard

The five Plays:   No-Good Friday;  Nongogo;  The Coat;  Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island.

The five plays collected here offer a unique insight into the role of theatre in a situation of oppression.  They were produced in close collaboration with their original black amateur casts, drawing on their lives and everyday experiences in the townships. 

They range from the early apprentice work of the brash but vital Sophiatown plays, No-Good Friday and Nongogo, to the freer, more urgent, and profound New Brighton plays, including the most famous, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, and The Island, and the previously unavailable, The Coat.

Dennis Walder, Professor of Literature at the Open University, has written an informed and authoritative Introduction drawing on unpublished material, suggesting how the plays testify to the continuing potential of drama to offer a voice on behalf opf the voiceless. 

Athol Fugard has written a new Preface to the collection, explaining the nature of their importance in his career.