Kunene and the King
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

VETERAN white South African actor Jack Morris (Anthony Sher) is due to crown his career by playing King Lear. Diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, from the moment his medical carer Lunga Kunene (John Kani) turns up, their respective attempts to find a working relationship are beset by their country’s shared history.

In Kani’s two-hander, their progress towards recognising one another as individuals and not as products of their corrupted past is infused with humour and mediated through confronting cultures, languages and, fascinatingly, as the stricken Jack struggles to learn Lear’s lines, Shakespeare.

Just as Shakespeare’s character has to learn to see his world through unclouded vision and find a shared humanity, so Jack edges towards a freedom born of mutual respect. Similarly, Kunene has to assert his professional pride and racial self-respect to cope with an awkward patient wallowing in sardonic disgust at his situation.