Welcome to our collection of insightful and inspiring quotes by the renowned South African actor, playwright, and director, John Kani. With a career spanning decades, John Kani has not only graced the stage and screen with his remarkable performances but has also been a prominent figure in the world of theater, contributing significantly to the cultural landscape of South Africa and beyond.
Born in 1943 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, John Kani emerged as a prominent voice during the apartheid era, using his craft to shed light on the injustices faced by black South Africans. His work, both on and off the stage, has been marked by a deep sense of social consciousness and a commitment to telling stories that resonate with the human experience. As a co-founder of the famous Market Theatre in Johannesburg, Kani played a pivotal role in providing a platform for black artists to showcase their talents and narratives, thereby challenging the oppressive structures of apartheid.
Throughout his illustrious career, John Kani has delivered performances that have captivated audiences worldwide, earning him numerous accolades and cementing his legacy as a trailblazer in the entertainment industry. Below, you’ll find a collection of John Kani quotes that encapsulate his wisdom, wit, and profound insights into life, art, and the pursuit of justice. Feel free to explore these quotes, whether you wish to reflect on them, share them with others, or adorn them with your creative touch.
I spent 51 years under apartheid. I don’t imagine suffering. I know it. John Kani
Forgiving is OK. Forgetting, never. John Kani
I believe strongly that the word ‘protest’ is no excuse for bad work. The artist must create. John Kani
I will always vote. I have done so, ever since 1994. John Kani
Over the years, many young actors have approached me: Vusi Kunene, Sello Maake ka Ncube, and Seputla Sebogodi. They all said, ‘Hey Bra John, let’s do ‘The Island and we want you to direct.’ But somehow, my heart was not in it or I was busy with something else, so I’d say, ‘ja, ja, we’ll do it.’ John Kani
When you write as an artist, you just tell a story and people say it addresses issues. John Kani
We are sort of not at the level of entertainment that the Western world is. Everything we see on the play in the screen, we read, we take serious. We take that it speaks to me. And so wonderful to see how the Johannesburg, South African audiences will say: What does it say to me? What does it make me feel? Why am I celebrating it? John Kani
Apartheid is a lie, people can work together, people can create together. John Kani
I still remember the moment when my teacher, Mr. Budaza, walked into class and said, ‘Today we are going to study ‘Julius Caesar,’ one of Shakespeare’s most important plays.’ John Kani
Whenever I play Shakespeare, I keep thinking, ‘how did this Englishman know so much about me?’ John Kani
Shakespeare’s words paint pictures in glorious colour in my language. They were written by a man whose use of words fits exactly into Xhosa. John Kani
What does Macbeth want? What does Shakespeare want? What does Othello want? What does James want? What does Arthur Miller want when he wrote? Those things you incorporate and create in the character, and then you step back and you create it. It always must begin with the point of truth within yourself. John Kani
My grandfather told me our history through his stories about all the great Zulu battles. John Kani
‘Sizwa Banzi’ is the life of the black man. We look at it, laugh at it, re-examine it, but we do not change it. John Kani
You found during apartheid a strange occurrence from the white folks themselves. There were those who did make a choice to speak out and stand and be counted in the army of human beings who believed in justice. And then there are those who left. John Kani
I had to look at white people as fellow South Africans and fellow partners in building a new South Africa. John Kani
In South Africa in 1987, apartheid was still going strong. Some of the most brutal race laws had been relaxed, but they hadn’t yet been repealed. There was still a lot of tension. John Kani
We have to depoliticise our youth. We have to teach our youth that the word ‘government’ means them, it’s something to feel pride in, not something to attack. John Kani
I have never been attracted to television work. Even to appear in series and soapies. I have always appeared in theatre and major movies, writing plays and other things. John Kani
I’m Dad at home, not John Kani. John Kani
Art is universal. When works of art become classics, it is because they transcend geographical boundaries, racial barriers and time. John Kani
My love, my passion, my everything is this continent of Africa. I have always celebrated African humanity. John Kani
When I tried to do ‘Waiting for Godot, it was such a controversy. I was tired of political theatre. All I wanted to do was ‘Godot.’ You know what happened? We were told we had messed up and politicised a classic that has nothing to do with S.A. John Kani
In Australia, I almost became a counsellor. At the end of each performance there would be a queue of sobbing people backstage. They all wanted to explain why they left South Africa. John Kani
‘Sizwe’ is the beginning of protest theatre; ‘Nothing But The Truth’ is post-apartheid South Africa. John Kani
I want my work to contribute toward creating a better society, toward bringing people together. That is always the first consideration, not the money. John Kani
When western culture developed, we became detached from nature, detached from our relationship with the animals. We saw animals perhaps as only the rhino horn, the elephant’s tusk, we saw it as making money. John Kani
We haven’t got those dreams: ‘I wish to become doctor or a lawyer.’ Black people in South Africa have been barred in doing anything that would articulate their cause. John Kani
When I tell a story, I have to tell it honestly. John Kani
Any older actor knows the last great mountain to climb is to play King Lear and now, if I ever play Lear, I will have done the pre-preparation because I had to go into the play and read it over and over again. John Kani
I was 51 when I voted for the first time in 1994, and I look at South Africa through those spectacles. John Kani
Every time there is a movie that tells a South African story, it is done by someone who must be taught the right way of pronouncing ‘Sawubona.’ Enough is enough. John Kani
You can’t always play the hero. You have to play the villain. John Kani
You can give me any of Shakespeare’s plays and I’ll tell you a parallel African folktale. John Kani
This is the problem I have: I write a play and I give it to a director and they say, ‘I’ll do it one condition: if you play the role.’ John Kani
Working with my friend Sir Antony Sher is truly one of the highlights of my career as an artist. John Kani
Yes, we have the judiciary, the Constitution, we’re fighting racism on a daily basis, but these are all state efforts and are not the efforts of the individual. The individual has to commit to change, the individual has to look at the past and take accountability of the past; for the wound to heal we have to dress it together. John Kani
‘iNkaba’ has made me famous in the living rooms of the people of my country. It was almost like being famous all over again. People stop me in the street and shopping malls to take pictures. John Kani
I remember the words of my grandmother who died at 102. I remember my great mother, Grand Brika, who died at the age of 106. They talked to us all the time. And my grandmother even lied to me. She said there was royalty. She said that my great-great-great grandfather was the king of the outer Thembu. John Kani
Very rarely in the life of an actor and a performer do you do something you truly believe in, do you do something you are absolutely proud of. John Kani
I’d read Shakespeare in school, translated into isiXhosa, and loved the stories, but I hadn’t realised before I started reading the English text how powerful the language was – the great surging speeches Othello has. John Kani
Seventy is beautiful for me. I am truly, at last, an elder. John Kani
I am known for always playing virtuous characters. John Kani
In South Africa, we’ve been watching these movies all our lives – ‘Batman,’ ‘Superman,’ ‘Captain America’ – and every time the mask comes off it’s a white man. John Kani
I write about the human condition, as a South African. I sometimes see South Africa with the spectacles of the past and there will then be a political content in my writing. John Kani
In the global push to stop gender-based violence, men in the entertainment industry need to join forces with women to end violence by men against women and children. John Kani
Shakespeare examines how democracy is built. John Kani
When I’m abroad it’s almost like I’m in a transit lounge. I’m only comfortable when I know the date of departure. John Kani
Inkaba’ is about a feud between two South African families. They have been fighting for years, from one generation to the next. It’s like those typical feuds you have in rural KwaZulu-Natal where, after a while, you do not even know why you are fighting. John Kani
I used to wonder, when my grandmother would tell me what the wolf said to the jackal, how these animals can talk. And, she would say, ‘in my stories, animals talk. Shut up and listen.’ John Kani
Our job as artists, we believe, is not to make changes in society. We don’t have the ability to do that. We reflect life. We are the mirror of the society to look into. Our job is to raise questions, but we have no answers. John Kani
Other theaters exist here solely to entertain the white audience and keep South Africa on a par with what’s going on in the West End or Broadway. The Market concerns itself with theater of this country, for this country. John Kani
And I’m part of the generation of South Africans who feel we’re lucky to be alive. John Kani
Everything you do on stage is always a response to something, not the next line. John Kani
I always say my first break was a dead man’s break. John Kani
When I am offered work, I am very selective. John Kani
I started to get my doctorate, not to be called ‘doctor.’ Those are just little things you get to get recognition. John Kani
The government harasses everything. The government must keep a constant surveillance of all activities by black people in order to maintain their reign over them, especially when they are in a minority. John Kani
I couldn’t really say that a repressive society would result in creative art. But somehow it does help, it is an ingredient, it acts as a Catalyst to a man who is committed. John Kani
We never deal with propaganda. We never deal with politics. We never deal with newspaper headlines. We deal with the harsh realities of our lives. We will only comment when there is more bread to eat, more space in which to move, time in which to open your mouth and sing. As long as these things have not happened, we do not talk about politics. John Kani
It is ridiculous to think we can erase racism in South Africa, but through theater there can be a genuine attempt to move on with our lives and build a better country. John Kani
That’s the beauty of art: art is universal. John Kani
Theatre has had a very important role in changing South Africa. There was a time when all other channels of expression were closed that we were able to break the conspiracy of silence, to educate people inside South Africa and the outside world. We became the illegal newspaper. John Kani
It dawned on me that theatre is a powerful weapon for change. John Kani
The only reference in my life is my life, and it’s my life experience. It’s my environment. It’s my community. I’ve not made that for books. John Kani
When the situation politically became intolerable within South Africa, we used the arts as a weapon for change. John Kani
Before 1994, many South Africans used theater as a voice of protest against the government. But with the end of apartheid, like the artists who watched the fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe, theater had to find new voices and search for new issues. John Kani
‘Captain Marvel,’ whereby the steel trap is challenged, where the hero is a heroine, where the most powerful person who has the welfare of the future of the human race is a woman. What else can it be? Because that was the role of my mother when I was a kid. John Kani
All over the world, there is someone sitting in a cell because he or she is not allowed freedom of expression. John Kani
It is a troubled soul that forces the human being to act. It is some kind of gangrene within you, inside of you, that eats your soul, that forces you to save your soul. John Kani
I did ‘Sizwe Bansi is Dead’ for 34 years. John Kani
We’ve got the right to vote, but what does it mean? People now want to have the right to a job, the right to education, the right to medical services. John Kani
I have been on the Urban Brew board for many years and assisted with the artistic evaluation of the various shows that were pitched to the production company. John Kani
In any character you are given to play, be it evil/good/whatever character, you begin with self. You examine yourself and ruthlessly see similarities between you and the devil, or between you and the dictator, or between you and the kind man. John Kani
Protest theater has a place again. It’s not against whites or apartheid. It is against injustice and anything that fails our people. John Kani
In 1973, ‘Sizwe Banzi is Dead’ and ‘The Island,’ which I co-wrote with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona, transferred from The Royal Court Theatre to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End. John Kani
I was the generation who hated the white man, despised him, wanted to shoot him. John Kani
Someone once asked me what I missed most. I said, ‘My youth.’ I’ve never been a boy who could run around, go crazy, do this, try that. There wasn’t time for that. John Kani
In South Africa, it is different. When you are born not even your father knows what is going to happen in your life. John Kani
If we’d lived in England or America we’d have told stories abut our lives and nobody would have called it protest theatre. But the reality of South Africa was the arrests and detentions and oppression – we could not escape that, so we decided to take it on. John Kani
I must concentrate all my efforts in the attainment of freedom for my people. John Kani
When I was asked to write a concept for a telenovela, I didn’t underestimate my non-experience in the field. John Kani
The exchange rate of the Rand against the dollar, pound or euro makes South Africa an attractive location. The positive side of this is it gives our artists and technicians an opportunity to work. John Kani
In ‘Lion King,’ the music is brilliant. The CGI is amazing. John Kani
Acting became a powerful tool for change. You had to tell stories that were important to you. John Kani
In 1990 there were about 300 scripts being written demanding the release of Nelson Mandela. And suddenly we watched Mandela walking out of prison. So those scripts had to be destroyed. John Kani
I understood the whole purpose of Truth and Reconciliation, and I supported it 100 per cent, but I couldn’t deal with it myself. John Kani
A telenovela is a story that’s like a soapie, but it has a beginning, middle and an end. John Kani
I come from a long line of storytellers. John Kani
I am a citizen of the world, or no world at all! John Kani
When I first encountered Shakespeare as a boy, I read every word this man has written. To me, he is like an African storyteller. John Kani
My stories are about humanity, about the challenges of surviving and the constant fight against ignorance, inhumanity and complacency. John Kani