Playright turns to self-publishing to reach wider audience
Carla Lever speaks to playwright, director and storyteller J Bobs Tshabalala Congrats on your new publication – ‘Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars’ is quite a title! Can you tell us a little about what it's about? Enkosi kakhulu for the congratulations, I really do appreciate it. This is an incredible milestone for me, and for my organisation Kiri Pink Nob.
Seeing also that it is my debut publication, makes it even more special for me and my team at large. So, for us, this is truly a moment!
“Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars” is a heightened period piece, only the period is very recent and very South African.
“It’s actually the playscript of a political satire we performed, written in what we call “Comrade-Speech” – elevated language synonymous with the black South African aspirational discourse in the political and academic spheres.
As a young black playwright, I think that it’s crucial for us to create plays that sound like the people they speak of and about. It’s incredible how people have taken to the first ever staging, and now, the publication. It is an important shift that we are proposing here!
It’s often a challenge to get plays published for a wider audience to read and stage them. We have powerful and interesting new theatre being made in South Africa, but are we doing enough to preserve and promote the scripts? A simple, answer …No! We’re not doing enough – far from it. Amidst all the excuses there are some valid reasons, though.
One: some of our most interesting theatre is physical, not text-based narrative, so it seldom translates to being a strong script offering. Two: In the case of well written plays that are as engaging as performance texts as they are literary works, the question of commerce enters. Why spend some money on publishing for a market that I know will not spend any money on reading?
Three: There is very little collaboration between actors and publishers in South Africa. It’s a gap that needs to be closed, and my partner Monageng Motshabi and I intend to do just that!
I can continue listing the ills, but my answer holds: NO! NO, we are not doing enough. Far from it!
Do you think there's been a cultural shift where we're telling - and listening to - our own South African stories enough, or do South Africans still tend to be more interested in international plays, books or films? In the spaces that I operate in, the shift is tangible. People are demanding local content, and many are even demanding it in indigenous languages.
That said, we need to compete for market share with the international players who have way more money than we do. In the working classes however, South African content is treasured. This is where I am looking to play mostly. Why is storytelling - whether through film, theatre, books or poetry - an important way for us to connect and explore our histories and realities? It is a true monument of who we are as a people, in the time that we live in. Of all the stories to be told, the untold South African story is the most critical of them all.
We want to talk about us now. We are ready to hear ourselves. We have watched as the world fantasise about us and we’re done with that!
How can people get their hands on a copy of your book?
From me! The book costs R150 a copy. In Gauteng, I deliver. In other parts of South Africa and the rest of the world, I post, which costs extra. Drop me an e-mail to info@kiripinknob.co.za. Reading and telling stories with your children is a powerful gift to them. It builds knowledge, language, imagination and school success! For more information about the Nal’ibali campaign, or to access children’s stories in a range of South African languages, visit: www.nalibali.org.