Survival, identity, and the politics of performance: A comparative analysis of Sizwe Bansi is Dead and You Play Me, I Play You.

This article examines the formal and stylistic commonalities between Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1972) and Efo Kodjo Mawugbe’s You Play Me, I Play You (1986). Despite originating from different socio-political contexts, apartheid South Africa and 1980s Nigeria, respectively, both plays demonstrate remarkable similarities in their dramatic structure, use of metatheatrical devices, and thematic preoccupations with identity, survival, and institutional oppression. Through a comparative analysis grounded in postcolonial theory and performance studies, this article argues that both works employ what can be termed “theatre of survival”, a dramaturgical approach where performance itself becomes a strategy for negotiating oppressive circumstances. The analysis reveals how both plays utilise minimalistic settings, direct audience address, multiple playing, the transformative power of clothing and photography, and the motif of identity exchange to critique the dehumanising bureaucratic systems that render Black bodies as mere documents rather than human beings. Significantly, this article positions Mawugbe’s work within the broader legacy of African drama, demonstrating how third-generation African playwrights drew inspiration from first- and second-generation dramatists like Fugard, adapting their formal innovations to address post-independence realities. Furthermore, the article connects these historical texts to contemporary global crises, digital surveillance, the migrant crisis, biometric identification, and algorithmic governance, revealing how these plays continue to speak urgently to readers navigating systems of control in the twenty-first century. The enduring relevance of both plays lies in their insistence that even under conditions of extreme constraint, human beings can assert dignity, create community, and resist erasure through performance itself.