Barney Simon
Barney Simon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 April 1932 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Died | 30 June 1995 (aged 63) Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Occupation | Editor, playwright, director |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | South African |
| Notable works | Woza Albert! (1981) |
Barney Simon (13 April 1932 – 30 June 1995)[1] NOT to be confused with Jacaranda FM radio DJ Barney Simon, was a South African writer, playwright and director. He was born and died in Johannesburg, South Africa.[2]
Early life
Born on 13 April 1932 in
Simon and the Market Theatre
In 1976, Barney Simon co-founded Johannesburg’s Market Theatre, South Africa's first multiracial cultural centre[3] and a birthplace of the country's indigenous theater movement. Working under the racial segregation laws of apartheid without state subsidies and under constant threat of arrest for staging controversial contemporary plays performed by multiracial casts in front of multiracial audiences, Simon remained the theater's artistic director from its opening until he died. He was the first to stage many of Athol Fugard's plays, directed a film for the BBC of Nadine Gordimer’s story City Lovers, and worked with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière on the French translation for the Paris production by Peter Brook of Simon's last play, The Suit (Le Costume) (1994), adapted from a short story of the same name by Can Themba.
Literary life
Simon was active in South African literature as the editor from 1964 to 1971 of The Classic, the influential South African journal of township literature founded by Nat Nakasa in 1963. Simon edited an autobiographical novel by Dugmore Boetie, Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1969), for which Simon also wrote an afterword.[4] He also published a collection of his own stories, Joburg Sis!, in 1974.[5]
Simon collaborated with Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema on the 1981 satirical play Woza Albert!,[6] a two-man show first performed at the Market Theatre.
Death
Simon died in Johannesburg, aged 63 on 30 June 1995, having suffered a heart attack a week earlier.[7]
Publications
Selected plays
- Phiri (1972)
- Hey Listen (1973)
- People (1973)
- People Too (1974)
- Storytime (1975)
- Cincinnati (1979)
- Cold Stone Jug (1980)[8]
- Call Me Woman (1980)
- Marico Moonshine and Manpower (1981)
- Woza Albert! (1981)
- Black Dog-Inj Mayama (1984)
- Born in the RSA (1985)[9]
- Outers (1985)
- Klaaglied vir Kous (1986)
- Inyanga - about Women in Africa (1989)
- Eden and Other Places (1989)
- Score me the Ages (1989)
- Starbrites (1990)
- Singing The Times (1992)
- Silent Movie (1993)
- The Lion and the Lamb (1993)
- The Suit (1994)
Sources
- A Singing in Every Moment and Inch of Me: The Letters of Barney Simon to Lionel Abraham (2009), ISBN 978-1-58322-832-6
- The World In An Orange: Making Theatre with Barney Simon (2006), edited by Leila Henriques and Irene Stephanou, Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-58322-711-4
- Woza Afrika! - An Anthology of South African Plays (1986), ISBN 978-0-8076-1170-8
- Born in the RSA (1997), Wits University Press. ISBN 1-86814-300-7
- Joburg, Sis! (1974), Bateleur. ISBN 0-620-01405-9
References
- ^ Nadine Gordimer (3 July 1995). "Obituary: Barney Simon". The Independent.
- ^ a b Mary Benson (3 July 1995). "Obituary; Barney Simon: For freedom of the heart and mind". The Guardian. p. 12.
- ^ a b "Barney Simon". South African History Online. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- OCLC 84257
- ISBN 978-0-62001-405-2
- ^ McNeil Jr., Donald G. (1 July 1995). "Barney Simon, 63, Producer; Used Art to Fight Apartheid". The New York Times.
- ^ Pearson, Bryan (10 July 1995). "Barney Simon". Variety. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ISBN 978-0-79811-309-0
- ISBN 978-1-86814-300-9
External links
- Barney Simon at IMDb
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