Zulu is based on Andrew Zondo, a 19-year-old black man who in 1985 set off a bomb at a shopping mall, killing five and wounding more than 50, both black and white. Yourgrau, a white, Johannesburg-born writer who immigrated to America at the age of 10, has shaped his play around the records of Zulu’s trial and execution by hanging. Jacob (K. Todd Freeman) is a minister’s son, a mild, scholarly boy who shied away from the political activism of his fellow students. Trying to explain how such a youth came to commit an act of terrorism, the play shows Jacob being radicalized by the violence of a society fractured by racism. He flees to Mozambique, joins a militant group and eventually returns to South Africa where he plants his bomb, is arrested and brought to trial.
As drama, “Jacob Zulu” is rudimentary and sometimes unclear, notably in the exact role played by the African National Congress in the bombing. The play lacks the passion of “Sarafina!” the 1987 musical work about black South African children. Certain scenes rise above straightforward docu-drama: a white defense lawyer, at first rejected by Jacob, defends his lifelong commitment to justice for black political prisoners. And in a flashback a veteran militant (Zakes Mokae) reacts to Jacob’s youthful innocence with an explosively sardonic tirade.
This role is one of three played by the superb South African actor Mokae. Jacob Zulu is a tough part, neither hero nor martyr, but a man confounded by overwhelming social forces; Freeman movingly captures the trapped anguish of this character. Eric Simonson has transferred the play sensitively to Steppenwolf Theatre Company. But it’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo that lifts the play to another level. Their name, meaning the black ax of the township of Ladysmith, belies the gentle power of their singing. This gentleness is more remarkable since they’ve borne the full pain of racism: the brother of Joseph Shabalala, their wonderful lead singer, was murdered by a white man in 1991. Their angelic harmonies and hypnotic rhythms are the sound of sunrise, the inevitable sunrise of a new society.
