''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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

to live in a

homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic 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 ethnic natio ...

. 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 Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 William Flynn (13 December 1948 – 11 July 2007) was a South African actor and comedian, perhaps best known for playing Tjokkie. Early life Flynn was born William Frederick Flynn in Cape Town and matriculated from Plumstead High School. H ...

as Forsie,

John Kani Bonisile John Kani (born 30 August 1942) is a South African actor. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016) and ''Black Panther'' (2018), Rafiki in ''The Lion King'' (201 ...

as September,

Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African and American actor. He began his career as a stage actor and starring in South African films like '' Boetie Gaan Border Toe'' (1984). After emigrating to the United States in the late 1980s, h ...

as Dougie and Joanna Weinberg 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 1980s South African films {{SouthAfrica-film-stub