Angus Gibson & Ruth Jacobson 
Sophiatown 
A play

Sophiatown was the ‘Chicago of South Africa’, a vibrant community that produced not only gangsters and shebeen queens but leading journalists, writers, musicians and politicians, and gave urban African culture its rhythm and style. This play, based on the life history of Sophiatown, opened at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg in February 1986 to great acclaim. The play won the AA Life Vita Award for Playwright of the Year 1985/86. This new edition of the play includes an introduction which sets the work in its historical context.

Table of Content

Sophiatown – The Place
‘Sophiatown’ – The Play
Act One
Act Two
Act Three

About the author

Pippa Stein was an author and academic at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in applied English language studies. She was a key member of Junction Avenue Theatre Company and she co-edited Sophiatown Speaks (1986).