''Saturday Night at the Palace'' is a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Paul Slabolepszy Paul Slabolepszy (born 1948), or Paul "Slab", is a South African actor and playwright. Overview Slabolepszy was born in Bolton, England. His mother was English and his father was a Polish refugee. The family then emigrated to South Africa. He ...

Plot

The play relates the story of two working class whites (Vince and Forsie) who arrive at an isolated roadhouse (''The Palace'') just as it is closing. The black waiter (September) who works there is shortly going on leave to visit his family whom he has not seen for two years because they are forced by

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

to live in a

homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

. Vince has just been dropped by his soccer team and has been kicked out of the communal house (where Forsie also lives) by Dougie (who runs the commune). It has been left to Forsie to tell Vince this but he is too scared to do this as Vince is a violent person. Forsie begs Vince to phone Dougie (so Dougie can tell Vince himself) and they stop at the roadhouse to use a call box. At the roadhouse, tensions build and Vince takes out his racial prejudices on September. To make things worse, Vince tells Forsie that he has slept with Forsie's ''dream girl'', Sally. September is humiliated and the story ends in tragedy.

Performances

It was first performed ''Upstairs'' at the Market Theatre,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, in 1982. It then moved to the Old Vic Theatre in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1984.

Books

* ''Saturday Night at the Palace'', Paul Slabolepszy, Jonathon Ball Publishers,

Film

The play was made into a film in 1987 starring

as Vince, Bill Flynn as Forsie,

John Kani Bonisile John Kani (born 30 August 1943) is a South African actor, author, director and playwright. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016) and ''Black Panther'' (2018), ...

as September,

Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African-American actor. He is famous for roles such as Imhotep in '' The Mummy'' and ''The Mummy Returns'', Colonel Coetzee in ''Blood Diamond'', Pik van Cleef in ''Hard Target'', Dr. Peyton Westlak ...

as Dougie and

Joanna Weinberg Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, ...

as Sally.

External links

IMDb entry for 1987 film

South African plays 1982 plays South African plays adapted into films Plays about apartheid 1987 films South African drama films {{SouthAfrica-film-stub