Kunene and the King

'What lies beneath the apparent simplicity of Kunene and the King is a lot of moral, political and existential depth. This is testimony to the brilliance of John Kani.' - EUSEBIUS McKAISER

South Africa, 2019. Twenty-five years since the first post-apartheid democratic elections. Jack Morris is a celebrated classical actor who has just been given a career-defining role and a life-changing diagnosis. Lunga Kunene is a retired senior male nurse from Soweto now working for private patients. Besides their age, they appear not to have much in common. But a shared passion for Shakespeare soon ignites a 'rich, raw and shattering head-to-head' (The Times) as the duet from contrasting walks of life unpack the racial, political and social complexities of modern South Africa. Kunene and the King is a vital play that combines the magnificence of classic Shakespearean comedy, tragedy and history to reflect on a new yet deeply wounded society.

Auteur

Bonisile JOHN KANI (born 30 August 1943) is a South African actor, activist, author, director and award-winning playwright. The more famous of his plays are Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, both co-written with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona. Kani's work has been widely performed around the world, including New York, where he and Winston Ntshona won a Tony Award in 1975 for Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Black Panther (2018), Rafiki in the 2019 remake of The Lion King and Colonel Ulenga in the Netflix film Murder Mystery (2019) with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.