Drama Lecturer’s Play Read at South Africa House

A Senior Lecturer on the undergraduate Drama programme at St Mary’s University, Twickenham recently had one of his works read at a reception event for the Deputy President of South Africa. South African actor Jack Klaff and British actor, Jeffrey Kissoon, read a short excerpt from Matthew Hahn’s The Robben Island Bible at South Africa House on Friday 25th April for Kgalema Motlanthe and the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Obed Mlaba. The play is based on interviews with former political prisoners on Robben Island in South Africa, including Nelson Mandela, and selected texts from the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Matthew was inspired to write the play after hearing about the tale of the Robben Island Bible, which was actually a copy of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. While imprisoned on the island, inmate Sonny Venkatrathnam smuggled in a copy of text which was passed around to fellow prisoners who marked their favourite passage with their signature and the date. Matthew interviewed eight of the prisoners, including Sonny Venkatrathnam, as part of the script. The play has received critical acclaim and has already been performed at the Richmond Theatre, London South Bank and The British Museum. This reading was the first time it had been performed at South Africa House; the previous night it was performed as the opening event for the 1994-2014: 20 Years of South African Democracy Conference at Oxford University. Academic Director for St Mary's Drama programmes, Mark Griffin, directed the reading for both nights. Matthew said, “It was an honour not only to have the opportunity to perform this play at such an iconic location but, more importantly, an honour to perform it in front of two former political prisoners on Robben Island for the first time, the Deputy President being one of them.” You can read more about the production on The Robben Island Bible blog.