The Shakespeare in Mzansi miniseries strand delves deeper into and examines the human experiences of South Africans, probes into the morals and values that we use to shape our lives and our country, uses historical and contemporary contexts to affirm who we are, building unity in an experience of our South Africanness.
Can Shakespeare be adapted to South Africa today, speak to the hearts of South Africans about South Africans? The answer to this question is yes.
The series encapsulates various peoples and times in our history and present, talks to all South Africans, from all walks of life about the issues that are central to our lives.
The series as a whole deals with honour, love, power, betrayal, religion, heritage, deception, and greed, all basic human emotions that drive us as individuals, but affect the nation because we are all part of a whole. Most importantly Shakespeare in Mzansi as a series touches very strongly on the morality and the values that shape and guide us as a nation, and really asks us to look at ourselves and decide who it is we choose to be as individuals within the great South African nation.
Titles in this series :
Izingane Zo Baba
(Family business can be fatal)
Izingane Zobaba is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The original text’s concept of ‘kingdom’ has been transposed into a modern day setting of ‘corporate empire’.
Izingane Zobaba is about the effects of power upon a family and how the actions around the acquisition of this power could result in both the destruction of the family but also a true expression of the love felt between members of the family. This is a compelling story for a society where the relationships between fathers and daughters have never been explored in depth on television.
