Kunene and the King tickets

Don’t miss John Kani’s highly acclaimed play Kunene and the King marking the 25th anniversary of the end of apartheid with a strictly limited London run, following its premiere in Stratford-upon-Avon and a sold-out run in Cape Town. 

South Africa, 2019. Twenty-five years since the first post-apartheid democratic elections, two men from contrasting walks of life are thrust together to reflect on a quarter century of change. Jack Morris is a celebrated classical actor who’s just been given both a career-defining role and a life-changing diagnosis. Besides his age, Jack has seemingly little in common with his at-home nurse Lunga Kunene, but the two men soon discover their shared passion for Shakespeare, which ignites this ‘rich, raw and shattering head-to-head’ (The Times). 

Written by South African actor, activist and playwright John Kani (Black Panther, The Island, Sizwe Banzi is Dead), this refreshingly funny and vital new play is directed by Janice Honeyman (Vice Versa; The Tempest, 2009) and sees fellow South African Antony Sher (King Lear, 2016 & 2018; Death of a Salesman) perform alongside John Kani in two exceptionally moving performances, with live music and vocals by Lungiswa Plaatjies completing the company. 

Book now for this ‘fascinating and necessary’ (Financial Times) play, co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cape Town’s Fugard Theatre, as it transfers to the Ambassadors Theatre for nine weeks only from 24 January 2020.