Arena

Episode Synopsis

The growth of black consciousness through the 1970s has produced an explosion of original new theatre in black South Africa. At a secret performance in the backyard of a Soweto shop, a radical poet recites his banned work accompanied by drums and songs. In a ghetto hall, two men in chains portray their escape from prison and their dream of liberation - a dream that is shattered by the grim reality of working in Johan nesburg 's mines ' 6,000 feet underground ... in the dusty caves of gold '. And the women of Crossroads shanty town re-enact their fight with the police and the bulldozers which have harassed them for years. Tonight's film investigates the remarkable emergence of a vivid and defiant theatrical life.