This blog takes a reflective look at South African playwright Monde Mayephu and how his theatre connects art, ethics, education, and civic responsibility—from road safety to social justice.
I first met Monde Mayephu in 2010, when his company was delivering road safety performances to primary schools as part of the NGO Drive Alive’s road safety outreach programme. From those early engagements, we began to imagine what would later become Drama for Change. This programme was initially developed within the Corporate Social Responsibility programme of the Bakwena N1N4 Toll Concessionaire.
In 2019, the vision took formal shape with the establishment of the Drama for Change NPO. Long journeys between home and schools became spaces for conversation, reflection, and new ideas, gradually shaping the organisation into one that is both credible and impactful.
I believe our friendship has consistently challenged our thinking—encouraging us to dream ambitiously, and to believe in young people’s capacity to recognise opportunity and shape their own futures.
Working hard on a photovoice project in Mtatha
Playwright, Educator and Activist
“In the end we are all stories” – Monde Mayephu
In South Africa, theatre has never been merely a form of entertainment. It has functioned as a site of reckoning—a public space where uncomfortable truths are spoken aloud and collective wounds examined. Within this tradition, is Monde Mayephu: a Soweto-bred playwright, director, and educator whose work insists that art must remain accountable to the society that produces it.
Monde studied writing under the mentorship of Professor Zakes Mda, did Theatre for Development, Forum Theatre and Integrated Arts and Culture at Royal Opera House (London, Covent Garden) and Arts and Culture Management with Witwatersrand Business School.
Mayephu’s career resists easy categorisation. He is often recognised for his plays being performed on major stages. It is important to understand that he has intentionally used theatre as a tool for education and social change. He does not only ask what stories we tell, but who those stories are meant to serve.
Successor to a Serious Lineage
In a 2010 interview conducted by Mylene Fernandez Pintado titled “A Guest of Honor: Nadine Gordimer,” the late Nobel laureate identified Monde Mayephu as part of a select group of elite South African theatre practitioners. https://rebelion.org/un-huesped-de-honor-nadine-gordimer/
“There are many new and innovative writers, but far too few newspapers and magazines in which to publish their work. A few small, daring publishers release books by these writers, and occasionally an individual work is translated and printed in other countries. ……. We have some excellent playwrights and actors, men and women who bring them to life in our theaters. I could mention John Kani, Zakes Mda, Monde Mayephu, Paul Grootboom, James Ngoba, all successors to one of the founders of our contemporary theater that deals with our reality, Athol Fugard” Translated from Spanish.
Nadine Gordimer positioned Monde Mayephu within a lineage of South African artists for whom theatre is a moral instrument—one that interrogates power and exposes inequality.
Love stories that refuse to be small
On the surface, plays such as The Pen and Play Me appear to centre on intimate relationships. But this intimacy is strategic. Mayephu uses love as an entry point into larger social questions: unemployment, loneliness, depression, and the quiet psychological toll of exclusion.
In The Pen, a character rails against “mediocre shows” designed only to put “bums on seats,” rejecting spectacle without substance. In Monde’s work, a story about two people is never only about two people—it is more about the conditions that shape their choices. His theatre insists that private pain is inseparable from public structures.
What distinguishes Mayephu is his sustained commitment beyond the formal stage. Since 1995, he has worked within the framework of Theatre for Development, bringing drama directly into communities as a method of education and empowerment.
An early collaboration was with the NGO Drive Alive, where he developed drama workshops for primary schools to address road safety. This work later evolved into the Drama for Change Project, an initiative that treats drama as a practical civic tool rather than a luxury.
Today, Mayephu mentors the Drama for Change Drama Pioneers, who in turn, work with learners across selected Secondary and Primary Schools in the North West Province. The focus is not performance for applause, but performance for consequence—using storytelling to intervene in real social conditions.
The Drama for Change Project, for now, is primarily focused on youth in the North West Province, specifically in the towns of Dinokana, Zeerust, Groot Marico, Swartruggens, and Bapong/Majakaneng.
Monde Mayephu introducing the Drama Pioneers to Forum Theatre and Physical Theatre
Teaching the Discipline of Words
Mayephu’s civic commitment extends into education. For fifteen years, he served as a fieldworker in the Market Theatre Laboratory’s outreach programme, helping make high-quality theatre training accessible to historically marginalised communities. He currently teaches writing at the Market Theatre Laboratory, where he challenges students to “dig for the riches in the words” (a phrase used by Sipho, the main character in The Pen) and to approach storytelling with discipline.
He also taught drama at the Windybrow Theatre, University of Johannesburg and conducted workshops around the country in writing and drama.
Monde is also a sessional lecturer at WITS School of Arts Drama for 3rd year students
His pedagogy reflects his broader ethos: craft matters because people matter.
Monde Mayephu engaging with youth, fostering storytelling
List of plays
Going Home (1997) Staged at the Windybrow Centre for the Arts; directed by Mayephu Recognition: Most Promising Production
Too Young To Die (1998) Performed at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre; directed by Mayephu Recognition: Best Actor award for lead performance
The Red Door Case (1998; directed 1999) Performed at the Market Theatre Recognition: Best Production
Beyond the Grave (1999) Performed at the Pakistan International Festival Recognition: Best Production
Fusion Been (2000) Performed at the Market Theatre Laboratory
The Pen (2003) Critically acclaimed drama performed at the Market Theatre Recognition: Naledi Award Nominee – Best New Play
Play Me (2011) Performed at the Market Theatre, Springs Theatre, and the University of the Free State Recognition: Naledi Award Nominee – Best New Play
Rain Song (2012)
One Square Mile (2013) Musical theatre work commemorating the centenary of Alexandra township
Dark City (2017) Musical theatre production
Imprisoned by Guilt (undated) Performed internationally, including Sacramento, USA
A Perfect Cure (undated) Performed at the Alternative Spaces Festival
How High The Moon (undated) Performed at the Market Theatre Laboratory
Mind Games (undated) Performed at the Market Theatre Laboratory
Theatre That Refuses Comfort
If conventional theatre acts as a mirror, offering audiences a reflection of themselves, Monde Mayephu’s work functions more like a magnifying glass—focusing heat on the cracks in the pavement until they can no longer be ignored. His theatre does not allow the audience to walk away unchanged. It demands attention, responsibility, and, ultimately, repair.
What role do you believe art and theatre should play in confronting societal issues, and how can we as individuals contribute to this dialogue and action?
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