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Sarafina! in Black and White: revival, colour-conscious casting and new social cohesion paradigms

Under the direction of Josias Moleele, a group of students from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria revived Mbongeni Ngema's iconic anti-apartheid musical Sarafina! at the Soweto Theatre in July 2013. Moleele cast Tumi Lesejane, a black actress, and Suzaan Helberg, a white Afrikaans-speaking performer, in the title role. His casting decision angered some and inspired others. This article argues that colour-blind casting is a misnomer. Moleele employed, instead, colour-conscious casting. When the performance initially premiered at Pretoria's Breytenbach Theatre, Lesejane and Helberg played Sarafina in repertory. This served only to reinscribe the racial separations institutionalized by apartheid. In its final two performances at the Soweto Theatre, Sarafina! in Black and White overcame this limitation. Both Sarafinas appeared in the same performance. Lesejane played the first act, Helberg the second, and both performers appeared hand-in-hand dressed as Nelson Mandela in the musical's final moments. They intoned, ‘We are one colour.’ The performance, which garnered a standing ovation from the racially mixed audience, offers a new paradigm for approaching issues of social cohesion in contemporary South Africa.