Mandla: (resigned) You're going to get us killed.
The play is episodic, meaning it is made up of several short scenes rather than one continuous narrative. woza albert script
The economy of language is deliberate. There are no long, winded monologues about the pain of oppression. Instead, the pain is shown through the frantic pace of survival. The script is written in a mix of English, Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans, capturing the rhythmic, polyglot reality of South African townships. Mandla: (resigned) You're going to get us killed
The script is structured like a musical suite or a jazz improvisation, alternating between blistering satire, slapstick comedy, and poignant tragedy. It unfolds as a series of short, sharp vignettes, each a revelation of some facet of apartheid life. We meet a microcosm of the oppressed: the weary domestic worker, the desperate “illegal” immigrant, the soldier conscripted to die for a flag not his own, the philosopher in a shebeen (tavern). There are no long, winded monologues about the
Passenger 1: (angrily) What's going on? Can't you drive properly?