Brothers in blood, Mike van Graan : book review

Abstract

Mike van Graan has deservedly gained a reputation as our leading contemporary political playwright - or, if that seems too bald and simplistic a statement, as a playwright who is not afraid to tackle head-on the issues that confront us in the 'new' South Africa. His plays tackle such sensitive issues as corruption, violence, HIV/AIDS, and truth and reconciliation; they reach back to a tradition of politically engaged theatre dating from the 1970s and 1980s. By implication they urge us to guard against amnesia, apathy or cynicism. He has sometimes been accused of allowing the 'message' to dominate, of producing plays that serve as vehicles for dramatising particular positions - rather than providing fully realised dramatic encounters. I would argue that his plays are less programmatic and more interesting than might at first appear, and that they do not always conform entirely to his own description of what he is doing.