SOPHIATOWN ANALYSIS Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the historical context, characters, genres, and themes of the play Sophiatown by Junction Avenue Theatre Company.

Hendrik Verwoerd

The leader of the National Party who came into power in 1948 and brought in the age of Apartheid.

Native Land Resettlement Act

Act No 19 of 1954, which permitted the removal of blacks from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg.

Tobiansky

The individual who established Sophiatown in 1897 as privately owned land.

Freehold Suburb

A term for an area like Sophiatown in the 1920s where land and property could be sold to any person who could buy it, regardless of race.

Ons dak nie / Asihami

The ANC campaign slogans translates to "we won't move," used to mobilize residents against forced removals in 1953.

10 February 1955

The date the police raided Sophiatown with 2000 armed policemen, bulldozers, and police dogs, two days before the officially warned date.

Meadowlands

A township in Soweto (South West Township) where black residents of Sophiatown were moved during the forced removals.

Triomf

The name, meaning "Triumph," given to the Sophiatown area after it was cleared and designated as a white area.

Protest Theatre

A genre used in the play to highlight Apartheid injustices, provide political commentary, and incite a need for action through emotional connection.

Workshop Theatre

The style used by the Junction Avenue Theatre Company to create the play through research, interviews, and improvisation.

Nat Nakasa and Lewis Nkosi

Drum magazine journalists whose article about advertising for a Jewish girl to live in Sophiatown provided the premise for the play.

Don Matara

A former Sophiatown poet and gangster who gave the play's creators insight into language use and storytelling.

Township Musical

A genre element in the play where song in multiple languages is used for foreshadowing, transitions, and building tension.

Alienation

An Epic Theatre element used in the play where action is interrupted with song.

Gestus

A social symbolism in Epic Theatre; an example from the play is the bath used to brew beer for the shebeen.

Mamariti

The homeowner of 65 Gerty Street and a Shebeen Queen; mother to Mingus and Lulu.

Jakes

A writer for Drum Magazine and a tenant at Mamariti’s who acts as a narrator and intellectual character.

Mingus

A gangster character in the play and son of Mamariti.

Mr Fahfee

A political member of the ANC and a runner for the Fahfee gambling game.

Charlie

The colored sidekick to Mingus who dies because he refuses to leave Sophiatown.

Father Huddleston

The figure who started the Western Areas Protest Committee to resist the forced removals.

Tsotsitaal

A mixture of languages spoken by Jakes, reflecting his multifaceted identity as an intellectual living in the township.

Patriarchy

A system giving men more power than women, identified as a source of domestic violence in the relationship between Mingus and Princess.