SOPHIATOWN ANALYSIS Flashcards

Historical and Socio-Economic Context

• The Rise of Apartheid (1948): The National Party, led by Hendrik Verwoerd, came into power in 1948. This marked the official beginning of the Apartheid era.
• British Control: During the time depicted in the play, South Africa was still under British control. This is the historical reason why residents of Sophiatown paid rent in Pounds ($\text{\pounds}$); the South African Rand was not introduced until the 1960s.
• Sophiatown Establishments (1897): Sophiatown was established in 1897 by a developer named Tobiansky as privately owned land.
• Shift in Demographics: Originally intended for white residents, the construction of a sewage pipe through the plot caused white investors to lose interest in building or living in the area.
• The Freehold Suburb (1920s): Because white investors abandoned the area, land and property were sold to any person who could afford it, regardless of their race. This unique situation created a community of diverse people from various income groups. Property owners often rented and sublet their land, establishing Sophiatown as a "Freehold Suburb."
• Urbanization and Overcrowding (1930s): There was a massive influx of residents as workers moved closer to the cities for employment. This created a high-demand renters' market. Homeowners began erecting shacks on their properties to maximize income, leading to extreme overcrowding.
• Social Friction: Significant tension existed between landowners and renters due to poor living conditions, high rent costs, and rife overcrowding.
• Cultural Atmosphere: Despite the tensions, Sophiatown is remembered as a "wildly romantic" and vibrant community. Anthony Sampson, the Editor of Drum magazine, described the talk as "tremendously entertaining" due to an "explosive African style" mixed with academic knowledge and "drunken conversation." It was a hub for jazz, arts, and literature.
• Crime and Danger: Alongside its cultural vibrancy, Sophiatown was known for widespread gangs and crime, making it a dangerous but booming place to live.

The Native Land Resettlement Act and Forced Removals

• Legislative Background: The Natives Resettlement Act (Act No 19 of 1954) was a cornerstone of the Apartheid system of racial segregation. It authorized the South African government to remove Black residents from any area within or adjacent to the magisterial district of Johannesburg.
• Initial Government Surveillance (October 1952): The government began collecting the names of Sophiatown residents. Residents often provided incorrect information to delay and disrupt the administrative process. Property owners lobbied to be recognized as ratepayers to maintain their land rights.
• Resistance Mobilization (1953): The ANC began mobilizing residents to unite against the removals. The campaign slogans were "Ons dak nie" (Afrikaans) and "Asihami" (isiZulu), both meaning "we won’t move."
• The Timeline of Removal (1954–1955):     * August 1954: Forced removals officially began, targeting Black residents for relocation to the Meadowlands township.     * February 12, 1955: The government set this as the official date for massive removals. The ANC planned a peaceful protest and rally for the same day.     * February 10, 1955: In a surprise move to catch residents off guard, 2,000 armed policemen, police dogs, and bulldozers raided Sophiatown in the early morning hours.
• The Lack of Unity: There was a divide between landowners and renters. Many renters willingly boarded the trucks to Meadowlands, hoping for better living conditions and an end to exploitation by Sophiatown landlords.
• Transformation to Triomf: After the removals, residents were moved to Meadowlands (in Soweto, which stands for South West Township). Sophiatown was renamed "Triomf" (Triumph).
• Irony of the Name: The name was ironic because the area was left looking like a post-war scene of destruction. Triomf was designated a white-only area where lower-income white citizens moved in to rebuild on the ruins of the former suburb.
• Testimony of Maggie Resha: Resha, an ANC supporter and resident, emphasized the importance of writing the story of the township so that future generations would not receive a "distorted history" of the resistance, sacrifices, and the day the township looked like a "place under siege."

Genre and Theatrical Style

• Hybrid Genre: Sophiatown does not fit a single category but utilizes multiple South African theatrical influences: Protest Theatre, Workshop Theatre, Township Musical, Epic Theatre, Realism, Melodrama, and Physical Theatre.
• Protest Theatre Elements:     * Highlights Apartheid injustices through personal stories.     * Provides political commentary.     * Evokes an emotional connection to characters to incite a need for audience action.     * Written retrospectively in 1986 during a resurgence of resistance; intended to call people to rise against continued injustice.     * The play was originally performed internationally because it would have been banned in South Africa.
• Workshop Theatre Elements:     * Developed by the Junction Avenue Theatre Company through research and improvisation.     * Research included reading Drum magazine articles, specifically one about journalists Nat Nakasa and Lewis Nkosi advertising for a Jewish girl to live in Sophiatown.     * Collaboration with Don Matara (poet/gangster) for language and Jane Dikale (teacher/owner) for personal stories.     * Maintained an "episodic structure" typical of workshopped plays.
• Township Musical Elements:     * Uses songs in multiple languages to foreshadow action, build/break tension, and transition between scenes.     * Reflects Sophiatown's history as an artistic hub (e.g., Miriam Makeba lived there).
• Epic Theatre (Brechtian) Elements:     * Alienation Effect: Interrupting the plot with song.     * Narration: Jakes addresses the audience directly (e.g., Act 1 Scene 3) to narrate time passing.     * Breaking the 4th Wall: Characters deliver broken monologues directly to the audience in Act 2 Scene 7.     * Social Symbolism (Gestus): The bath is a primary example; it symbolizes white luxury but is used by the characters to brew beer for the shebeen.
• Character Styles:     * Brechtian Types: Characters represent "types" (the intellectual, the schoolgirl, the gangster).     * Realism: Despite being types, characters have complex psychologies, backstories, and shifting purposes.     * Melodrama: Characters like Charlie, Princess, and Fahfee exhibit exaggerated, comical actions.

Characters and Plot Overview

• Setting: 1945–1955 at 65 Gerty Street, Sophiatown.
• Mamariti: The homeowner and "Shebeen Queen"; mother to Mingus and Lulu.
• Jakes: A writer for Drum magazine and a tenant at Mamariti’s who invites Ruth to live there.
• Mingus: A gangster and Mamariti's son.
• Princess: Mingus’s lover.
• Lulu: Mamariti's daughter, a schoolgirl.
• Charlie: Mingus’s sidekick, a Coloured man.
• Ruth: A white Jewish girl from Yeoville who moves in to experience the "other side."
• Mr. Fahfee: A member of the ANC and a runner for the "Fahfee" gambling game.

Thematic Analysis

Defiance and Resistance

• Definition: Defiance is open disobedience to maintain a cause; resistance is the refusal to comply with rules to survive or maintain existence.
• Examples in Play:     * Ruth defies law and family by moving to Sophiatown.     * Father Huddleston starts the Western Areas Protest Committee.     * Lulu defies Bantu Education by wanting to boycott school.     * Fahfee expresses readiness to die rather than move: "We’ll sit down in the streets and wait for the bullets."

Identity

• Definition: A complex mix of language, race, religion, gender, and culture. Apartheid laws forced race to be the primary marker of identity.
• Examples in Play:     * Jakes struggles with his identity as a "would-be intellectual" speaking multiple languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, English, Afrikaans, Tsotsitaal) but feeling powerless.     * Ruth discusses the confusion of Jewish identity (not just religion or nationality).

Memory and Loss

• Definition: Memory serves as a weapon to keep destroyed places alive. Loss refers to the destruction of the community.
• Examples in Play:     * The play itself acts as a record of the 1950s to prevent history from being repeated.     * Charlie experiences the loss of community and purpose; he eventually dies.     * Jakes and Ruth represent a lost opportunity for love across racial lines.

Segregation, Diversity, and Reconciliation

• Definition: Segregation is enforced racial separation. Diversity is the presence of identifiable differences. Reconciliation is the restoration of friendly relations.
• Examples in Play:     * Charlie is separated from the community during relocation because he is not Black.     * Ruth is able to return to safety because of her race, highlighting the inherent inequality.     * Diversity is shown through the wide array of worldviews: Mingus (power/violence), Lulu (education), Princess (self-preservation).

Violence

• Definition: The unlawful use of force (physical, emotional, or psychological).
• Examples in Play:     * Domestic Violence: Mingus’s treatment of Princess ("shaddup and listen or I'll have to cut you up").     * Institutional Violence: The government using 2,000 police and bulldozers for removals.     * Gang/Racial Violence: Mingus displays scars and wounds from "our own war."

Significant Quotes

• Jakes on the Racial Divide: "We let the Boere drive a wedge between us… When the war comes, as it will, it will be fought in the barren ground between us…"
• Ruth on Truth: "There are different sorts of truths, Lulu. Remember that."
• Lulu on the Future: "There is no future, Mama. Unless we make it."
• Jakes on the Fall of Sophiatown: "Sophiatown was a cancer on a pure white city, moved out at gunpoint by madmen. With its going, the last common ground is gone. The war has been declared, the battle sides drawn."