By Ndalo Mbombo
Theatre has played a pivotal role in the cultural and storytelling history of South Africa. It was used as a vehicle for political and creative expression during South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid. From theatre and the arts came writers, scholars and playwrights who would leave a legacy characterised by respect and appreciation for the craft that continues through the work of writers, scholars and playwrights of this century. Among those artists, scholars, and playwrights is the award-winning writer, Professor Siphiwo Mahala, who writes across genres; namely academia, short story form and playwriting.
Professor Mahala honoured an invitation from the Department of Literary Studies in English at Rhodes University to discuss two of his plays. The acclaimed contemporary plays The House of Truth (2016) and His American Bantu (2021), which capture the stories of Can Themba and William ‘Bloke’ Modisane, “two illustrious writers from the 1950s Drum generation.
In his presentation, Mahala expressed that while extensive writing is available detailing the political and cultural influence these two figures have had in the South African literary and political landscape, much less is available about their lives as ordinary human beings. Through these plays, Mahala attempts to restore the humanity of Themba and Modisane through the vehicles of storytelling and theatre that tell ‘untold or forgotten stories’. Mahala explained that, in writing these two plays, he was interested in “humanising them, understanding their relationship with their families, children, students and friends”.
Mahala shared that both plays were nurtured by time, much like most, if not all, of his writing. He revealed that there was a period of nine years between the time he first read the letters and wrote the play about Modisane and Langston Hughes. While the play about Can Themba was produced, he had dedicated years to his PhD in English Literature, completed at the University of South Africa.
Mahala confessed that he was inspired by the cultural exchange resulting from the friendship and brotherhood that Langston Hughes and Bloke Modisane developed from their letter writing. Mahala reflected on the very first time he read the letters during a trip to the United States of America, where he found himself immersed in the world Hughes and Modisane had created for themselves, one characterised by vulnerability and intimacy. “I knew immediately it should be a play”, he said.
The house of truth (2016) premiered at the 2016 National Arts Festival as a one-person play starring Sello Maake kaNcube, an award-winning South African actor. He admits that it was a: resounding success,” and it went on to be staged across the country. Mahala expressed that Themba’s story resonated with him as an academic because, before his journalism days, Themba was a teacher by profession, who, much like Mahala, had the hope to “nurture young minds”. However, tensions with the exclusionary practices of the apartheid system led to Themba’s career change. Mahala captures how Themba’s home in Sophiatown became a breeding ground for intellectual conversations and debate.
Mahala recognises that theatre elicits more response and allows people to engage differently with the world while learning as one would in an academic space. He said, “Theatre has the ability to teach what takes a quarter of the year to teach in half an hour”. In addition to his short story collection, he also shared one of his recent books with the audience, titled The Missing Pages, published in 2025, that echoes his intentions with the two plays of telling the untold and forgotten stories of South Africa’s history.
