You strike a woman, you strike a rock = wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokotho / written by Phyllis Klotz in collaboration with Thobeka Maqhutyana, Nomvula Qosha and Poppy Tsira.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Klotz, Phyllis, author.

Contributor:

Maqhutyana, Thobeka, contributor.

Qosha, Nomvula, contributor.

Tsira, Poppy, contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women, Black--South Africa--History--1961-1994--Drama.

Women, Black.

Women anti-apartheid activists--South Africa--Drama.

Women anti-apartheid activists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxxi, 68 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg : Wits University Press, 2021.

Summary:

You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock / Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokotho is a bristling example of protest theatre making during the height of apartheid. Created in ensemble fashion in 1986 by director Phyllis Klotz in collaboration with performers Thobeka Maqhutyana, Nomvula Qosha and Poppy Tsira, this play stands as a contemporary South African classic. The play focuses on three central characters: Sdudla, Mambhele and Mampompo living and working in a Cape Town township trying to eke out a living in a racially, socially and economically unequal world. There are few work opportunities and there is a great deal of red tape to be self-sufficient. Men are glaringly absent from this world - working as cheap migrant labour in urban areas. Women have to undertake great risk to see their husbands and to try keep a semblance of family cohesiveness. Helicopters fly above and state security police surveil the area. The play shows how these women work miracles to ensure the survival and well-being of their families at all cost. Following the famous 1956 slogan of the South African woman's march against apartheid laws, this latest publication in 2021 is a testament to the contemporariness of this play. Its themes around gender activism and the need for gender parity remains as true today as it did fifty years ago. Fresh and full of life, this is an important historical document and will be a landmark play for high schools and students of theatre.

Contents:

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Introduction by Sarah Roberts

Historical background

Glossary and translations

Images from the production

You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock/Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokotho: The script

Prologue

Scene 1: The Marketplace

Scene 2: The Post Office

Scene 3: The Bus

Scene 4: The Dompas

Scene 5: The Train

Scene 6: The Workplace

Scene 7: The Farm

Scene 8: The System

Scene 9: The Hostel

Scene 10: The Father

Scene 11: The Foreboding Bird

Scene 12: The Blockade

Scene 13: The Student Protest

Discussion points

Back Cover.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 Jul 2022).

ISBN:

1-77614-721-9

OCLC:

1259592622